Miniatures Monday, New Ladies Shop in Progress - Preview

Wanted to share a quick preview pic of the miniature Ladies' Shoppe I'm setting up. This is the smaller roombox. I have a larger one which will hold more items as well.

The two large cabinets in back are - ta-da! - thimble cabinets!! Been saving them and thought they'd look perfect painted white and filled with shoes and shoe boxes. I have another one to use for potion bottles in a wizard room I have to finish. 

Just was setting up this room to see what fits. The space on the right wall will have mirrors and a hanging rack with dresses.

It'll be neat to see the before and after photos once everything is painted and decorated. I got this box decorated from the flea market for -- $5. All it needed was a top molding and I have to put electric in yet.  (click for larger pic)

Why My Love Life Sucks, The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer - it takes a geek to be a hero

Today author Shevi Arnold talks about her book Why My Love Life Sucks (The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer)

Blurb-

Seventeen-year-old Gilbert Garfinkle is the ultimate tech geek. He likes to take apart, figure out, and fix things, and he dreams of someday fixing the world. But now his own life has been taken apart by the one thing he'll never be able to figure out. Her name is Amber, and she's a gorgeous girl with a killer smile who wants to turn him into her platonic BFF--literally forever! It's the ultimate geek's ultimate nightmare, and it leaves Gilbert asking life's ultimate question: "Why me?"  

Why My Love Life Sucks (The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer) is a funny novel about geeks, girls, gadgets, vampires, and the start of a most unlikely friendship. It's the first book in The Legend of Gilbert the Fixer, the series that proves it takes the ultimate geek to be the ultimate hero.

Meet Shevi Arnold:

When I was little, I'd take them apart and analyze them, kind of like what Gilbert Garfinkle--the hero of Why My Love Life Sucks--does with electronics. This continued into my college years, when I majored in English Literature and Theater Studies.

For twelve years I worked in magazines and newspapers as an editorial cartoonist, illustrator, editor, arts-and-entertainment writer (specializing in children's entertainment and, of course, comedy), and a consumer columnist.

My last job was at the Jerusalem Post, but I had to quit when my family decided to move to New Jersey to pursue better education options for my autistic son.

This was in February 2001. Since then I've written 40 picture books and seven novels for kids and teens, four of which I've indie published. I was an ABNA quarterfinalist with Why My Love Life Sucks, and I won third place in SmartWriter's Write It Now contest in the the YA category (which was judged by Alex Flinn, the author of Beastly) for my romantic, YA ghost story, Ride of Your Life.

* Check out the Next Stop on the tour at LM Preston's Ramblings

Links:

* Read an excerpt free @ Freado

Pinterest- http://pinterest.com/shevistories/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SheviStories

Blog: http://shevi.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shevistories

Website: http://www.shevistories.com/Home.html

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SheviStories

Facebook Event-

https://www.facebook.com/events/592818107403748/?context=create#

BUY:

BN.com: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/why-my-love-life-sucks-shevi-arnold/1114274136?ean=2940015949377&itm=1&usri=shevi+arnold

Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/280989

Story A Day 12-14, zombies, sky and mothers

Catching up for Story A Day for May so there're three stories and an amazing video.

Today's prompt is to finish Sam's Story. Sam just got a dream promotion, or so he/she thinks....

# 14
Sam's Story
by Christine Verstraete

The dream job Sam had wanted was finally within reach.

Any other time she would've jumped at the chance...

She took the letter from the envelope and read it once more.

All her hard work had finally paid off. All those hours and late night meetings.

Lead, it said. No more late nights. The opportunity to do more of the kind of projects she liked.

With a sigh, Sam crumpled the envelope and threw it on the floor.

It was too late now. Joke's on her.

Hands on the trigger, she held tight to the gun and peered through the upper window at the throng of zombies surrounding what was left of the mail delivery person, hoping they'd go away soon, hoping they'd go to some other house.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 128 words
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(A change of pace - loved this when I saw it!)



#13

Above

by Christine Verstraete

From my perch above, all is beauty.

Dots of light become stars on earth. Seas are spots of azure. The land is green and bright.

No decay, no death, no war.

Perfection.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 32 words

 - inspired by the beautiful photos and song of Canadian Astronaut and Commander Chris Hadfield.

-----

#12

... A mother's love never dies...

Mother's Day

by Christine Verstraete

No one expected the virus to do this.

No one.

Those who died came back and wandered the earth. Hungry, devouring, unexpected.

But the babies... so innocent, so precious.

When they began undying, panic set in. No one knew what to do.

I took them in.

I looked at my hungry charges, their faces gray, their eyes a milky white.

I filled the baby bottle with liquid protein made from raw meat. Disgusting, but necessary. The zombie baby grabbed it eagerly and began to suck.

It worked... for now. I wasn't sure how I'd handle it if they stayed alive and undead, if they continued to grow and thrive.

For now, I cared for them like any mother would, smiling when the baby's tiny hand caressed my cheek.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 128 words

Miniatures Monday - Victorian-style cabinet

This is one of those wood cabinets from Michaels. I want to fill it with a bunch of different type boxes. I decorated it with scrapbook paper on the back and top, then glued Victorian lady figures on the front and inner doors that I found at The Graphics Fairy.

 I love how this came out!  There is lace on the shelves and the shelf edge. I put Victorian lady stickers on the back walls. I replaced the knobs with regular dollhouse knobs that I painted white.

Next, I want to decorate another cabinet with a large door and a pole inside to hang miniature clothes. These will go in the display room for my miniature ladies' shoppe that I'm planning. More minis are at my website.

New zombie book bookmarks, GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie

I had to share! Just got my bookmarks for GIRL Z: My Life as a Teenage Zombie. Aren't they cool?? (minus the fingerprint of course!)

The black is glossy in front which is kind of neat. Stay tuned for a giveaway with some other stuff.

Story A Day 11, Zombie fiction, The Storm

Still doing A Story A Day... something a little different today...

The Storm

by C.A. Verstraete

Jimmy J knew the day the tornado hit that he and Mabel were goners.

"Nobody comin' down these parts," he muttered out of hearing of his usually big-eared wife. He glanced at the woman he'd shared his life with for fifty years, her once sturdy frame now bent, her strong face etched with pain as she lay curled up in their bed.

She'd tried to make it sound like everything was okay, that she'd get better, but he knew it never would be.

Seeing her suffer made his guilt worse at not takin' her to town earlier to see the doc before she took to her bed. Now most of the town was probably gone from that there twister.

He peered out the cracked window again, marveling at the piles of junk littering the farm fields surrounding their little shack. Nearest neighbors were a mile away, probably gone now, judging from the large, mangled pieces of wood thrown around like a spoiled child's playthings.

Nothing, nobody around, except...

He tried to make out a shape in the distance, surprised to see someone wandering out at the edge of the field. Finally some help?

He told his wife he'd be back in a sec, hoping the shuffling wanderer, mebbe a neighbor, mebbe a lost soul, had an answer to their dilemma.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 220 words

Story a Day 10, zombie fiction - Lost

Still doing A Story A Day for May...

Lost

by C.A. Verstraete

Not knowing what else to do, he went to Google Maps on his phone and looked up the park, Upper Black River State Natural Area near Jackson, Wisconsin.

He'd taken a wrong turn somewhere, maybe that jog off Route 12. He'd driven a while, stupid, he knew, hoping to find some landmark like his aunt said. All he saw were trees, more and more trees.

Okay, so it was a simple matter of finding his way back, right?

He followed the river a while before seeing a spot where he could pull over and take a break.

Getting out, he looked around and felt the anxiety leave. Maybe it was a good thing he stopped.

Something rustling behind him got his attention. A hiker? He gulped... what if it was a bear?

He turned and stared at the thing shuffling his way. A bear would have been so much better than-than this, whatever it was.

He prayed the disease-ridden creature was slow. He prayed even harder for that bear to come snarling and growling out of its hiding place.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 179 words, from a prompt about locations.

Story A Day 9, Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder, zombie fiction

* It's Day 9 of the Story A Day event. * 

Still at it!! Be sure to check out the lovely pic link at the end.

Beauty in the Eyes of the Beholder

by C.A. Verstraete

She was the most beautiful girl in the world, well, in my world.

For days, weeks, all I'd seen was ugliness, horror and decay until I saw her.

I tried not to stare at hair like glistening gold; long legs; a shapely body under that black dress.

I longed to reach out and caress the small cross tattooed on her neck.

I called out, anxious for her response. "Hello, Miss?"

No answer.

I slowed my approach, not wanting to startle her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

As she turned my heart sped up a bit... and then I swore it stopped.

She stared at me with eyes the loveliest shade of blue - if you ignored the whitish film slowly creeping across each iris.

She gave no other indication anything was wrong, but her dead stare told another story.

With a huge sigh of regret, I raised the gun and took aim.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 151 words  - Inspired by a picture prompt and this beautiful picture

Story a Day 8, Triple the zombie and flash fun

* Since I had to post a couple other things my count is off. So I'll try to catch up.

I'm doing A Story a Day for May.

(Back: Story 1 - Previous Story 4)

A triple whammy today to catch up. Here are stories 6-8.


Story 6:

Night Rider
by C. A. Verstraete

She thought the cabbie was some kind of joker when he cautioned her as she got out of the cab. "Get inside quick. It's dead out at night," he said.
He had to be kidding, right?
Cowering in the corner, she listened to the shuffling footsteps draw near, daring not to look out, daring not to see if he was really telling the truth.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete
 * 64 words


Story 7:

The Birthday Party

by C. A. Verstraete

Anna Smith had always disliked her ordinary name. People snickered when she said her name, like she was making it up.

The joke became as old as Anna, who was looking forward to the one big moment in her life – blowing out the candles on her 100th birthday cake.

The newspaper people would be there. The nursing home was planning a big deal, all in celebration of plain ol’ Anna.

It seemed wrong, cruel somehow, that Anna passed away the night before her birthday party.

She would've hated missing her one chance to shine, to have her name in the paper, the staff nurses said.

They busied themselves putting away the party things and straightening up the room where the party was to be held.

No one paid attention to the scraping behind the door, or the rattle of the doorknob.

The reanimated Anna struggled to turn the doorknob, anxious to go to her party and have some cake. She grasped the knob the best she could, wishing someone would open the door for her.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 175 words - Inspired by a prompt about obituaries at Story a Day.org 

Story 8:

What Had Been 

by C. A. Verstraete

Peeling paint decorated the walls like slivers of the past.

Pieces had fallen to the ground, giving it the look of confetti.

The scene depressed Shanna when she let herself see what was around her.

She preferred her memories of a gaily lit room filled with riotous colors, women in long shimmering gowns and men in stately suits.

It had been beautiful – once.

Shanna’s sigh filled the lonely, abandoned room, sounding like an eerie breeze, a sad echo of what once was.

(c) 2013 C. Verstraete

* 82 words - Inspired by a prompt and this really cool photo of a decaying room; check it out.

Blueberry Muffins, a treasure among the Vikings? Yes, in The Buttersmiths' Gold

Taking a break between A Story A Day to share this book  - a cute concept! Check out the trailer at the end and be sure to enter the contest for an Amazon gift card!

The Buttersmiths' Gold

BATTLES. BLUEBERRIES. BOVINES.

TORBJORN AND STORFJELL’S HISTORY UNFOLDS IN AN EPIC Evertaster NOVELLA.

Everyone knows the most coveted treasure of the Viking Age was blueberry muffins. Blueberry muffins so succulent that if you sniffed just a whiff, you'd want a whole bite. If you bit a bite, you'd want a batch; if you snatched a batch, you'd stop at nothing short of going to war just to claim them all. 

Young Torbjorn Trofastsonn comes from the clan that makes them. He's a Viking through and through – he's thirteen winters old, larger than most respectable rocks, and most of all, a Buttersmith.

That's what he thinks anyway, until a charismatic merchant makes Torbjorn question his place among the muffin-makers. When Torbjorn lets the secret of his clan's muffin recipe slip, he calls doom and destruction down upon his peaceful village and forces his brother Storfjell and his clansmen to do the one thing they are ill-prepared to do: battle for their lives.

   About The Buttersmiths' Gold

The Buttersmiths' Gold is a spin off novella in the Evertaster series that tells the story of two Viking brothers and their adventurous past.

The Evertaster series (Book #1 released June 14, 2012) is about Guster Johnsonville, who goes searching for a legendary taste rumored to be the most delicious in all of history. Along the way he meets a slew of mysterious characters, including two Viking brothers Torbjorn and Storfjell. The Buttersmiths' Gold is their story. 124 pages. By Adam Glendon Sidwell. Published by Future House Publishing.

Evertaster, Book #1:

A legendary taste. Sought after for centuries. Shrouded in secrecy.

When 11-year-old Guster Johnsonville rejects his mother’s casserole for the umpteenth time, she takes him into the city of New Orleans to find him something to eat. There, in a dark, abandoned corner of the city they meet a dying pastry maker. In his last breath he entrusts them with a secret: an ancient recipe that makes the most delicious taste the world will ever know — a taste that will change the fate of humanity forever.

Forced to flee by a cult of murderous chefs, the Johnsonvilles embark on a perilous journey to ancient ruins, faraway jungles and forgotten caves. Along the way they discover the truth: Guster is an Evertaster — a kid so picky that nothing but the legendary taste itself will save him from starvation. With the sinister chefs hot on Guster’s heels and the chefs’ reign of terror spreading, Guster and his family must find the legendary taste before it’s too late.

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** Watch the trailer