Friday, April 30, 2021

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, April 24 through April 30

 Good morning!

I have twenty-one stories to share with you this morning - with seven more that haven't posted to The Herald-News website yet.

So needless to say, it's been a busy post-writing retreat week.

And because I have so much features content to share this morning, I'll keep the fiction comments brief.

I'm still wrapping up the next book in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series (Cornell Dyer and the Whispering Wardrobe). 

I'm still working my way through the proof copy of the first book in the new BryonySeries Limbo trilogy (The Phoenix).

The writing retreat provided some good "moving forward" for the second book in the Limbo trilogy - Call of the Siren - and that inspiration has continued all week, with me jotting random notes as inspiration flares.

Writing/editing will most likely be confined to evenings this weekend. It's our Holy Week, so my focus is prayer and cooking/celebrating with my family.

Now back to the twenty-one feature (and news) stories. Simply click on the link of the story that looks interesting to you. Happy scrolling!

But before the stories, I have a list of additional resources and information. Please check them out, too -

Finally, if you'd like to find more kindness in your life, consider this book.

And have a great Friday!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Sue's Diner is a fictional restaurant in the fictional Munsonville that only exists in the BryonySeries.

Each Sunday, we post a new recipe. The recipe is either featured in one of our cookbooks or will be featured in an upcoming cookbook.

Check out the recipe here.

WRITERS

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to join WriteOn Joliet's Facebook pageWe're based in Joliet, Illinois, but we love to meet and interact with writers outside our area, too.

If you'd like to officially join WriteOn Joliet, we have two tiers of dues. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year, well, except this year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.

I also suggest this book: Little Book of Revision: A Checklist for Fiction Writers. It's exactly as it says. Each page some with one suggestion for revision. The rest of the page is blank, so you can add your own notes. All proceeds benefit WriteOn Joliet.

If you need support in your writing, I highly recommend this Twitter group: #5amwritersclub. I  joined it last year. Writers support each other on Twitter and meet every three weeks at 5 a.m. (4 a.m. CST - needless to say, I am often late!) on Zoom.

If you need editing or help with self-publishing, check out dmbaranunland.com.

ARTISTS

If you need an artist for a project, I offer these recommendations.

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for the Will County Go Guide and Sign up for the LocalLit Short Story and Book Review Newsletter at https://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/

Sign up for The Munsonville Times by emailing us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. The newsletter still isn't official yet, so we don't have an actual link on the website - but we are working on it! 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Daily updates: I do post the briefs on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries.

And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

BRYONYSERIES BOOKS

For books and more information about the series, visit bryonyseries.com.

BRYONYSERIES EVENTS

A full month of virtual events can be found at bryonyseries.com/calendar-of-events-1.

QUESTIONS

Email me at bryonyseries@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.


FEATURES

Teacher, youth minister charged with traveling to meet child, grooming: cops: Judge signed $100,000 warrant for arrest of Jeremy Hylka 

'There is an excitement about getting hugs again and seeing people’s faces again’: Still, houses of worship anticipate hybrid services are here to stay

Joliet, Plainfield student journalists headed to state competition: Students attend Joliet West High School, and all 4 District 202 high schools 

Minooka Community High School recognizes outstanding student performance

Stone City VFW Post 2199 in Joliet honors Elwood social studies teacher

An Extraordinary Life:‘She did the simple, little things with great love’: Former #Joliet resident Betty Joutras-Brewer lived by her Catholic faith 





And the book review.









Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage."



Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Leftovers

"Leftovers" is a word that often has negative connotations of not being as good as the original or not being good enough to make the first cut, as if only new and shiny have value.

"What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Leftovers."

"Oh."

But leftovers can have great value, too. Spaghetti sauce, for instance, often tastes better the next day. So does lasagna and macaroni and cheese with bacon.

Doubling portions when cooking on Monday means having "leftovers" for Tuesday and extra time for other projects.

Cutting elements from a story and then putting those "leftovers" into a separate file means you have a fresh persepctive later. You can decided if they should go back in - or if they are better served in another story - or they are simply evidence you know where to cut (pat yourself on the back).

Stories that were "leftover" from my schedule last week means I don't have to go hunting for ideas this week.

Leftover materials from one craft project can be stored for another. I used to run a Sunday School at a church, and I saved everything and accepted donations from the church members of everything. I had a wonderful supply closet - and those leftovers were just the thing when I purchased large, trifold cardboard for every student to recreate the "John of the Ladder" icon. They could use every and any form of media stored in the closet. The kids loved it.

Memories of great experiences are another type of welcome leftovers, ones that stay fresh in our hearts long after the experience itself fades.

I have three boxes in my closet of "leftovers" from my attic office in Channahon - tangible memories of the "Ron" years, spent in the home his parents built, years that dementia robbed from him.

Circling back to food, Rebekah and I did not cook this weekend for the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website.

This means that if you didn't try her chocolate chip cookie recipe from last week, you can still try it this week.

I love chocolate chip cookies fresh and warm from the oven.

But they also taste great the next day.




Monday, April 26, 2021

The "Stowaway" on this Weekend's Writing Retreat

This morning is super busy since I went straight from work on Friday into the 5am writers club retreat, hosted by Ralph Walker.

So a full retreat recap won't be today, since I want some time to reflect and then write a thoughtful piece. 

But I will share this.

When Ralph opened the retreat on Friday night, he emphasized that the next few days would  be a safe place, where all the writers (and he made certain everyone realized they were indeed writers, no matter where they were on their writing journeys) coud be free to be fully creative.

At that point, I wondered if I should introduce everyone to Bertrand, the only attendee who didn't pay.

Although Bertrand is not technically a writer in his own "write," he does have his own line of books, and he does want kids to love reading.

And since he and I hang out quite a bit, it was natural that he would hang out on this retreat. But the right time to mention the "elephant" in the room (well, crocheted mouse) never appeared, so I let Bertrand just absorb the wonderful weekend and hang out.

Plus, he was enjoying his dinner and the opening remarks, and it's impolite to pick up a crocheted mouse when he's pretending to eat just to show him off to all your new writing comrades.


But he did enjoy all of the fun exercises that Ralph had some mysteriously tucked inside the "Do Not Open" envelopes in the program binder he had sent all of us.

In fact, Bertrand had so much fun...


...he was extremely sad to see the weekend go...


What Bertrand doesn't yet realize, although I hope he will in the days to come, is that the end of the retreat was the beginning.

It was the beginning of new ways to assess our writing.

It was the beginning of new books to discover, for most, if not all, of these writers have published books.

And, most importantly, the retreat was the beginning of new connections that, hopefully, only continue to grow and strengthen as we support each other on our writing journeys.

I'm forever thankful for Ralph's invitation to join the group and his acceptance of me into the retreat.

Follow Bertrand the Mouse at bertrand_bryonyseries on Instagram.



Saturday, April 24, 2021

Still on Retreat

I am one of just twenty writers from all over the United States (and Canada) participating in a virtual writing retreat, hosted by Ralph Walker of the #5amwritersclub.

I will recap this retreat next week when I have more time.as I'm dashing into a sessioin.

But I will say that I am having a wonderful time. I have also learned some valuable information to bring back to the writers at WriteOn Joliet.

The feedback has been terrific.

Oh, and Bertrand the Mouse is having a great time, too. 

And I didn't even have to pay for his spot.





Friday, April 23, 2021

On Retreat This Weekend

More specifically, I'm on a writing retreat this weekend.

Ralph Walker of the 5amwritersgroup on Twitter creater an entire program for Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday - and then opened it up to the first twenty writers that signed up. 

Yes, it's on Zoom (Did the photo fool you)? But the twenty of us are sitting in our homes all over the United States, and two of us are in Canada.

I'll share a recap early in the week.

In the meantime, I'll be working hard to make my words the best they can be.

The photo is my view from the plane from on the way to Raleigh to visit Sarah in 2017.

Here's hoping my muse soars to great heights these next few days, too.





Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, April 17 through April 23

 Good morning!

I have twenty stories to share with you this morning - with seven more that haven't posted to The Herald-News website yet.

Just a brief commentary this morning. After deadlines today, I'm spending the rest of the weekend, through late Sunday afternoon, as a writing retreat, hosted by Ralph Walker of the 5amwritersclub Twitter group.

I'm hoping the exercises, workshops, fellowships and "free writing" time will help to move the second book of the BryonySeries Limbo trilogy, Call of the Siren, forward in a significant way.

Now back to the twenty feature stories. Simply click on the link of the story that looks interesting to you. Happy scrolling!

But before the stories, I have a list of additional resources and information. Please check them out, too -

Finally, if you'd like to find more kindness in your life, consider this book.

And have a great Friday!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Sue's Diner is a fictional restaurant in the fictional Munsonville that only exists in the BryonySeries.

Each Sunday, we post a new recipe. The recipe is either featured in one of our cookbooks or will be featured in an upcoming cookbook.

Check out the recipe here.

WRITERS

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to join WriteOn Joliet's Facebook pageWe're based in Joliet, Illinois, but we love to meet and interact with writers outside our area, too.

If you'd like to officially join WriteOn Joliet, we have two tiers of dues. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year, well, except this year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.

I also suggest this book: Little Book of Revision: A Checklist for Fiction Writers. It's exactly as it says. Each page some with one suggestion for revision. The rest of the page is blank, so you can add your own notes. All proceeds benefit WriteOn Joliet.

If you need support in your writing, I highly recommend this Twitter group: #5amwritersclub. I  joined it last year. Writers support each other on Twitter and meet every three weeks at 5 a.m. (4 a.m. CST - needless to say, I am often late!) on Zoom.

If you need editing or help with self-publishing, check out dmbaranunland.com.

ARTISTS

If you need an artist for a project, I offer these recommendations.

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for the Will County Go Guide and Sign up for the LocalLit Short Story and Book Review Newsletter at https://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/

Sign up for The Munsonville Times by emailing us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. The newsletter still isn't official yet, so we don't have an actual link on the website - but we are working on it! 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Daily updates: I do post the briefs on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries.

And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

BRYONYSERIES BOOKS

For books and more information about the series, visit bryonyseries.com.

BRYONYSERIES EVENTS

A full month of virtual events can be found at bryonyseries.com/calendar-of-events-1.

QUESTIONS

Email me at bryonyseries@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.


FEATURES

Plainfield Public Library held a short story contest and published the 9 winners: Read the works of these 4th, 5th and 6th grade students online 

They donated masks, distributed food and even shared their plasma: Many staff at Frankfort 157-C helped others where they could

All public summer activities at St. Joe’s Park in Joliet canceled for 2nd year in a row: Private events might still be a possibility but not guaranteed

Restaurants may need new recipe for success to survive in a post-pandemic world: Creativity, new business models and an entrepreneurial spirit may be key ingredients

Pets of the Week: April 19: Will County rescues have dogs and cats for adoption

An ExtraordinaryLife: ‘He was the most humble guy that I’ve ever known’: Joliet chiropractor volunteered at Will-Grundy Medical Clinic while battling lung cancer 

D. 202 lottery to its preschool program open through April 29: An online system is being used again this year

D. 202 announces new attendance zones for the 2021-2022 school year: Student registration open now for new students; returning students can register starting April 26

Family heirloom stolen from Joliet yard: ‘My dad died 4 years ago and this was really the only thing I wanted to have of his’

Good-bye winter – well, not quiteFlurries early Tuesday in Will County will become freezing temperatures overnight and more snow on Wednesday  

Minooka student says service ‘is what keeps the world spinning.’: Channahon-Minooka Rotary Club honors MCHS senior Morgan Moreno 

Joliet Catholic Academy recognizes its students of the month: Service clubs honor each student at a monthly luncheon or webinar 

BAM Clinic in Joliet not affected by FDA revoking emergency use authorization of bamlanivimab when used alone

2 cast members of ‘Chicago Fire’ received #COVIDVaccines at Joliet West: Fire department hopes that encourages more people to get vaccinated 

Joliet Township High School announces its students of the month for April: Service clubs based looked for ‘character, responsibility, and academic performance or improvement’

D. 86 in Joliet announces its students of the month for March: Students at eight elementary and junior high school buildings recognized

Crash shuts down Route 53 for 1 hour Thursday morning

Severe ‘flu’ in early 2020: Was it COVID?: These 3 Joliet-area residents think they had COVID – but testing wasn’t available at the time

‘I was almost hoping it would snow after the flowers bloomed’: Lockport senior spent an hour outside in an April snowfall, capturing and sharing the beauty

Will County libraries offer plenty of activities: Plus more tips for enjoying your weekend





Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage."

Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Is "Boys Over Flowers" Dated?

That was the theme of several articles I read after I finished this 2009 Korean drama. The drama was based on a Japanese manga that ran from 1992 to 2004.

Considering the manga has been adapted more than a dozen times (the most recent is 2018, I think), I'm doubting Boys Over Flowers is dated, especially considering "bullying" and "antibullying" are strong themes in both the drama and the manga.

Why I watched it

Rebekah introduced me to Asian dramas a couple years ago (we are currently watching a Chinese historical drama), and she hand-picks the ones she thinks are the best.

But we are also working our way backwards to some of the early ones she had watched in high school, dramas that hooked her, dramas she still loves. For instance, we watched First Shop of Coffee Prince last fall. 

And if you check out that "Coffee Shop" clip, you should know that the grandmother in one of the scenes plays the best grandmothers. 

She was also a grandmotherly type in Netflix's King Eternal Monarch (a drama of two parallel worlds where THIS GUY stole the show (embellishments on the clips are fan-made and not part of the drama) and the grandmother in Boys over Flowers

That pretty much brings us to how I wound up watching Boys Over Flowers. The lead in that drama also played a very different lead in the King Eternal Monarch. He had also played the lead in Boys over Flowers, his breakout and critically acclaimed role.

And because Rebekah really liked the drama, I wanted to watch it, too.

Here's a quick synopsis: 

The main female lead, Geum Jan-di, lives with her parents and younger brother above her father's dry cleaning business. Her mother definitely "wears the pants" in the family and dreams of being rich, the father is whacky and financially irresponsible, and the younger brother is just plain adorable.

One day, Geum Jan-di makes a dry cleaning delivery by bicycle to the prestigious Shinhwa High School, a school for the richest of the richest. It's owned by South Korea's biggest conglomerate, the Shinhwa Group.

Now a group called F4 terrorizes the school. The leader's parents own the Shinhwa group. His name is Gu Jun-pyo, and he is flanked by three friends: the slighty autistic, brooding musician; the playboy artist/potter, and a third who is part of an organized crime family.

If F4 decides they don't like someone, and that decision can be nearly random, they will incite the entire school to also terrorize that student until the student either leaves or commit suicide.

Well, our heroine talks a student out of jumping off the school's roof (he's been that traumatized by F4) when she brings him his dry cleaning. Because her actions hits the media, the Shinhwa Group, to "prove" it doesn't support bullying, offers her a full scholarship to the school. 

Her family is ecstatic and, while Geum Jan-di is less so, it does give her a chance to participate in the school's swim team (she loves swimming, but even that will be taken away from her in this drama).

She winds up falling in love with the musician, who loves a famous model, who dumps him. But she is also terrorized in some really viscious and frightening ways when she stands up to F4's bullying of other students.

Eventually, Gu Jun-pyo becomes infatuated with her, except a mean, selfish young man doesn't make the best boyfriend. In short, he has a lot of growing to do. Fortunately, the drama gives him time to do that as the drama spans more than twenty episodes that take place over several years. 

In the meantime, he and Geum Jan-di argue A LOT. By the time Geum Jan-di starts to like him, the musician starts to fall for her, too. Of course by now, her crush on him has died out. He winds up being the really nice guy friend who helps her out when she is down. 

Yes, second lead syndrome where nice guys finish last. 

But the chemistry is lacking between Geum Jan-di and the musician dude, and he has his own demons to vanquish, as does the playboy. The organized crime character doesn't appear to have any. If he does, they're not addressed in this drama.

Geum Jan-di's best friend, the really pretty Ga Eul, falls for the playboy, which brings her plenty of heartache, too. 

If all this sounds sappy, it really isn't. The drama is full of very human subplots.

The playboy hits on the wrong woman, and one of that woman's protectors and his friends beat the living you know what out of him, crushing his hand and rendering it useless for making pottery, the one wholesome pasttime he has.

And the musician has been on the outs with his grandfather ever since the musician was a small child and his parents were killed in a car accident. The grandfather has a heart condition and runs a free clinic for low-income people. Geum Jan-di eventeually volunteers there and makes medicine her chosen career because the grandfather has inspired her so much.

The point of this post

What makes these dramas especially gratifying to watch is not "I can't wait to find out what happens next!" Knowing the next step doesn't erase the enjoyment of watching the story and watching the characters develop and mature.

So now I'll bring you to two clips and a third optional one.

One is a trailer (could not find one in English but you'll get the jist of it anyway), which gives a glimpse of the characters' personalities through a few select scenes. 

A fun moment in that trailer is when Geum Jan-di's father takes her to the rich school for the first time. He dresses like a chaueffer and gets locked out of his own van.

The other clip is one the final scenes of the final episode. It was at this moment that I realized how satisying this drama had been to watch.

In the trailer, you'll see clips from when Gu Jun-pyo and the rest of F4 trick Geum Jan-di and Ga Eul into going with them to the very gorgeous New Caledonia: these episodes were really filmed on location, as were these

During these clips, Gu Jun-pyo tires to bedazzle Geum Jan-di with romantic dinners on the beach, fireworks, and a gift of an ankle bracelet (which she accidentally loses), and she's not swayed by any of it (although she does enjoy the vacation overall).

This contrasts with the last scene when Geum Jan-di and the musician, both medical students, are working in an outdoor clinic at the fish market (with communal living for the workers) where her parents wound up after the congolmerate bulllied them out of their business and apartment.

If you think "love fixes all" that doesn't quite happen in this drama (alhough some might agree with me based on the ending). 

Even though Gu Jun-pyo tries really hard to fit into Geum Jan-di's world (he even takes a shower with her father and brother in a public bathhouse), eating at her home (where her mother literally picks the fish off his plate and breaks it up with her fingers) and sleeping side by side on the floor with them, and even though he mends his narcisstic ways, Geum Jan-di realizes he will still always be heir to a conglomerate, and she will be who she is: someone who struggles at everything she does (she's even struggling with medical school, even though her heart is deeply into it).

So the pair wind up going on their separate ways for several years to work on themselves and their goals before deciding if they can really make a go of their relationship.

Playboy does something similar.

I should also mention these K-dramas comes with their original soundtracks. So a number of theme songs, in clips and in full, are played during some scenes. You become so accustomed to the music that you stop paying attention to it.

That's why I'm sharing one of the final scenes in the last episode.

It starts with the musician walking into an office and picking up a stethoscope, which is in front of a photograph of him with his grandfathre. The implication is that his grandfather has died, and the grandson has reunited with him and decided to study medicine to carry on the clinic.

All that is said in one movement. As a writer, I'm in awe.

Then you see Geum Jan-di running to catch a bus to the fish market as one of the songs starts to play. And that's the moment that I realized the depth to Boys Over Flowers.

Yes, it has its silly moments, and its whimsical moments, and it's "true love" moments, and it's tender and heartbreaking moments.

Yet it's all of these moments as a whole that bring visceral layers to a story that took its time to unfold in a very organic, honest way - even when the drama offers plenty of "fan girl" moments and the cliche shower scene. 

Side note: in a rather sad twist of fate, one of the actresses who played one of the "mean girls" later committed suicide, due to abuse and exploitation.

For by the end of this drama, all of the flashy, exotic locations have fallen away. The movement of the breathtaking water scenes in magical locales are now movment to poor fish market scenes and a benevolent destiny that's bigger than each individual character's self-centered wants and desires.

But the ending also implies a future that may also fulfill the desires of their hearts, the desires that are good and true.

Watch the trailer first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMN2rtQ5cQY

Optional: Gu Jun-pyo pays a spontaneous visit to Geum Jan-di's apartment, where the family is making kimchi. This includes the bathhouse scene and eating fish cakes from a vendor. What's sweet about this clips is you see that families don't have to be perfect (and this family is far from it) to be a good family.

But do watch this final clip 54:55 to the end of the song clip - or to the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiW0pOmjT5o&t=3270s

Don't worry about spoilers if you do watch it to the end. Because, again, the ending is not the point of watching. The point is to learn how the story gets there. Even as the drama was winding down, I was having a hard time seeing how the "happy ending" could be possible. 

Now to circle back to his post's premise, maybe the absolute final scene of this drama feels a bit dated, and it definitely was cheesey.

But it showed the solidarity of a lifelong group of friends for good, now, instead of evil, before they scatter to their respective futures.


Above, Bertrand the Mouse enjoyed Boys Over Flowers with us.


Monday, April 19, 2021

Sue's Diner: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today's recipe is featured in none of the BryonySeries cookbooks, so you can only get it here.

Rebekah had some chocolate chips with edible glitter she wanted to use up. So she decided to bake some cookies on Saturday night and share her recipe for the website and blog.

Try this recipe on the Sue's Diner page on the BryonySeries website.

But try it this week. It will be gone next week. A new recipe will take it's place. 

By the way, Sue's Diner is only real in the BryonySeries world. But didn't Timothy do a great job making the page look like a real menu at a vintage diner?


All proceeds benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties at bbbswillgrundy.org.

Order the cookbook at bryonyseries.com.




Saturday, April 17, 2021

Ed Calkins Reviews all Five Volumes of "Before The Blood"

So right before WriteOn Joliet's meeting began on Thursday night, I received this "telegram" from Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, who is now a full-fledged, dues-paying member of the group.

Two weeks ago, I read an excerpt from Ruthless to everyone present. I'd placed it in the group's drive about a month or so ago. When the time came to raed it, Ed had joined and happened to make that meeting.

I'm not certain what prompted such a generous review. I guess Ed felt one good turn deserved another.

And I guess I have TWO super fans, now.


Dear MOMI,

My first COVID-19 shot didn't go well, or went perfectly depending on perspective. I'm sick, which means the vaccine is working expect I feel like dying. I need to sleep this off.

What I was going to read today is my review of your series, “Before the Blood.” Here is that review. Try not to roll your eyes.



Book review on “Before the Blood,” written by Denise M. Baran-Unland as reviewed by the Ruthless Ed Calkins.

This series, like the BryonySeries, is all about the author’s greatest and most ruthlessly beloved character, Ed Calkins, the vampire writing this review. At least that’s what I was all ready to say.

I will admit it might be a tad bit improper to start a book review before reading the work I’m evaluating, but, had I not, this review would write itself. It might be a small bit heavy handed of me to berate the author for not including me, her favorite character, in her five-part series, which would naturally compel me to criticize her or her work, or at very least insist that this series, much like the BryonySeries to which this is a prequel, is actually all about me, whether the reader and author realize it or not. I imagined claiming that the no- once mentioned Ed Calkins was the elephant in every room, not written about because he’s too ruthless for adequate words.

But then, I had another humbling thought. Maybe I should get over myself and read what was written instead of imagining what it might say. Maybe a work, crafted by a skilled writer could be found interesting without referencing or implying my personage.

With this in mind, I read the series; all five volumes, determined to be nonprejudicial. I read unassumingly, as if I had no idea who the author was or that she even ever knew the most ruthless of vampires as to give a fair and balance view of the story as the words themselves told it, to render an impartial verdict that I could back up with direct text from the piece.

The words I read betrayed all that. “Before the Blood” really is all about me! I’ll circle back to that point.

The work is divided unevenly between three will-be vampires, a maiden, and another character who is as crucial as is overlooked; each intertwining in complex ways that mirror the characters themselves. Each holds its intrigue beyond the carefully crafted spirit of the late eighteen hundreds to one hundred years later where the BryonySeries takes over.

The first volume is devoted to the master piano genius, John Simons. Against a backdrop of scandal and corruption of a fraternal industrialist aristocrat, he is raised, as if he belongs, with all of its privileges, expectations, pressures applied to him. He father is cold and distant, his assumed mother is warm, loving, and increasingly unbalanced. Among the swirls of parties, monetary clout, and improper liaisons between aristocrats and chamber maids, John grows to be tall, dark, and handsome with the dark being more his mood and motives. He plows through his father’s expectations to be his protรฉgรฉ, but his real aspiration is music. As a proficient piano player and composer, he impresses the top minstrel of his day, gaining him the expectation for musical greatness but starts a rift with his powerful father. First his heart is crushed by a temptress, then he is disowned by his father and banished to play in a seedy music hall where is talents go unappreciated. Hungry, overworked, and despairing, John meets the next character, Kellen Wechsler, who is at this point already a vampire. John’s book, the shortest one in the series, ends with a deal in blood, but his story carries through the other volumes as it touches all characters.

Kellen Wechsler’s story starts centuries earlier. He, too, is conceived out of wedlock by a war hero that Kellen would never meet. Born into peasantry, he is the poorest of the characters throughout is life and doesn’t know wealth until hundreds of years later. When he “turns,” it’s under quite gruesome circumstance, but he appreciates the difference of a life of hunger against an undead life of constant feeding opportunity. For hundreds of years, he is content to just feed until a would-be victim suggests that wealth and power might suit him. Kellen gets his own story confused in the way that is reminiscent of another vampire character and seeks out a psychiatrist to help him sort it all out. It’s his psychiatrist that introduces him to the idea of feeding on John Simons on a regular non-fatal perpetual tryst. But Kellen takes his eyes off the prize for a moment, just long enough for John Simons to find his own prize.

In the next volume, you meet that prize. Bryony Marseilles (her maiden name), and Bryony Simons, claims two volumes with their respective names, but this uneven coverage is mitigated as she shares the bulk of the text about the crucial but overlooked character I mentioned earlier. One could say that Bryony is drowned by this character’s charm and ruthlessness in much the way that she drowns many of those she loves. Bryony is as fatally loving and beautiful as the lake she names as herself. Like that lake, she never leaves the character she shares the story with. Again, I’ll revisit this point.

Bryony’s mother dies in the second chapter. Her young life is imprisoned, more by her view of the world, which contains only Munsonville’ then by the deliberate confinement of her cold, distant, over-protective, and disapproving father, who seems to believe the tragic females in his life are divine retribution. He does relent sometimes to his daughter’s wants and needs. Bryony’s health seems to require meat, something the residents have disavowed, but he reluctantly allows it. Also, with extreme resistance, he allows his daughter to go to a few parties and spend a summer with other girls her age. But his goal seems to be to keep her innocent by a type of captivity. He wants her never to leave, but he doesn’t express affection toward her or any real interest in her happiness. Despite this, Bryony has arguably the best past in the series.

The volume dedicated to Henry Matthews is between the two about Bryony and it starts with a queer kidnapping of his wealthy maiden by an impoverished street musician. The doubtful prisoner gives the man, Harold Mathews, a string of daughters before giving birth to the imaginative artist and writer, whose name bares the volume. Henry’s heath is bad, but his life of moving ahead of unpaid landlords and living off of stolen foods is nonetheless filled with love, not just his parents, but most of his older sisters. The mystique of Henry’s change of lifestyle is fertile ground for speculation but his writing talent is discovered, and he is extracted to a paradise-like dwelling, but not before his mother and sisters died of disease.

Henry is not what I expected. In John Simons’ volume, he is described as a dandy. His lack of interest in his fiancรฉ might make one believe, as I did, that his sexual identity is queer. But his story lacks the trysts with other men that you might expect, instead focusing on halfhearted pursing of young women, both in lovers but also the daughters of his one surviving sister. All of this ends badly. Henry Mathews becomes a reporter, but the reach and power of his Uncle is continuously implied, rather than stated, in ways that will make you uneasy. Nothing of what happens next is directly explained in favor of tossed hints, casting shadows on what might seem obvious. Henry leaves his life for the amenity of Munsonville where he falls in love with a woman but fails to claim her as a wife.

The last and longest volume covers the least amount of time but cast shadows on all the other volumes. Inexplicably, as least on the surface, Bryony’s father consents to John Simons’ marriage to his daughter. Her new husband does not take her to his lavish home but instead builds a mansion in the middle of her hometown and hires many of her former friends. The new joys of marriage and wealth, however, are haunted by the shadows of a dark husband, trying to keep his new wife as innocent as her father had once. But Bryony is the lake, beautiful, but stormy. The mansion paradise with so many servants and rooms also has a room that is locked to her, and one of her “servant protectors” is a man who also loved her. Tragedy takes the village as was so common in both the series and the 1800’s where the story takes place.

Perhaps this review is taking too long to discuss the charming, ruthless character that haunts all five volumes.

I speak of Munsonville, the village where Bryony was born to a preacher and his wife who, like so many of their new neighbors, hope to never be found by their former lives. But the town isn’t built yet. Each resident takes up an ax to fell the trees that will build their new lives with such unselfishness that you want to forgive whatever they did to put themselves in hiding the first place. But their lives won’t forgive themselves. Each resident has a reason to abandon what he or she knew to come into an unknown village of little influence or notice. Only Bryony knows no other life it seems in a village where the bodies refuse to stay buried.

Now, I must speak about the elephant in every room in Munsonville. This series invites many theories and discussions about what, where, and whys that keep the volumes reread and the readers rethinking, but no one will disagree that the real back story here is the one about Ed Calkins. More to the point, the book is your back story too. Any of us that survived our youth by a hurried adulthood didn’t expect to want to know or care what is in a past until the bodies start to float up on to the lake’s surface. Munsonville is an American story of people that left the life they knew for reasons that may have hoped not to ever tell anyone. It’s a story that would have given the talk show host Maury ratings through the roof.

But the author isn’t going to give the dirt up if you, as a reader, don’t earn it. And that’s OK. If you wish to read the about love, betrayal, and vampires as if it’s the primary reason for the text, that’s fine. Personally, I’m not that interested in vampires, as the one I know best is kind of a jerk. Nonetheless, there is plenty of neck biting and horror to keep the undead aficionados reading for ages to come. Similarly, there is plenty of accurate history of the 1880s, complete with menus and dressing for parties, the miracle of the iron horse and the fading, but still, present wild west. But for anyone that has ancestors at that time, your own story is there for the picking. Be reminded of all the people who died back then, unknown with misery and disappointment, that might draw a tear to your eye; it’s not what you might expect from an undead horror story. A poet once told me in hard-to-read verse that the living bones of the people who lived before us were ground down to pave modern streets.

“Before the Blood” is a brilliant tapestry of tragedy and triumph, grief and grievance, and let us not forget love – for even the darkest characters love well their favorites. John has his tutor, Kellen has John, Bryony has her beloved summer sisters, and Henry has two sets of families that he embraces before….well, just “before.”

If you’re like me, you’ll want to read “Before the Blood” with someone willing to discuss it or, if you prefer, argue with – as you’ll surely miss some of the subtle clues. But in choosing a reading partner, you might skip any vampire who might have made up his mind before reading the piece.


Ruthlessly yours,

Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara








Friday, April 16, 2021

Story Round-Up: Features in The Herald-News, April 10 through April 16

Good morning!

A super packed Friday is in front of me, so I will keep commentary super brief, especially since I do have sixteen stories to share with you today.

On the fiction front, I am finishing up a new book in the BryonySeries The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series: Cornell Dyer and the Whispering Wardrobe.

I am working my way through edits of The Phoenix, the first book in the new BryonySeries series Limbo. These two projects will make up the bulk of the creative part of this coming weekend.

I am very slooooowly drafting the second book in the Limbo series Call of the Siren. I do plan to fidddle a bit with this book this weekend. I'm also part of a writing retreat next weekend and hope to make some progress then, too.

Now back to the sixteeen feature stories. Simply click on the link of the story that looks interesting to you. Happy scrolling!

But before the stories, I have a list of additional resources and information. Please check them out, too -

Finally, if you'd like to find more kindness in your life, consider this book.

And have a great Friday!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Sue's Diner is a fictional restaurant in the fictional Munsonville that only exists in the BryonySeries.

Each Sunday, we post a new recipe. The recipe is either featured in one of our cookbooks or will be featured in an upcoming cookbook.

Check out the recipe here.

WRITERS

If you're a writer anywhere in the world, you're welcome to join WriteOn Joliet's Facebook pageWe're based in Joliet, Illinois, but we love to meet and interact with writers outside our area, too.

If you'd like to officially join WriteOn Joliet, we have two tiers of dues. We also have a marketing arm that's getting longer every year, well, except this year. Check us out at writeonjoliet.com.

I also suggest this book: Little Book of Revision: A Checklist for Fiction Writers. It's exactly as it says. Each page some with one suggestion for revision. The rest of the page is blank, so you can add your own notes. All proceeds benefit WriteOn Joliet.

If you need support in your writing, I highly recommend this Twitter group: #5amwritersclub. I  joined it last year. Writers support each other on Twitter and meet every three weeks at 5 a.m. (4 a.m. CST - needless to say, I am often late!) on Zoom.

If you need editing or help with self-publishing, check out dmbaranunland.com.

ARTISTS

If you need an artist for a project, I offer these recommendations.

NEWSLETTERS

Sign up for the Will County Go Guide and Sign up for the LocalLit Short Story and Book Review Newsletter at https://www.theherald-news.com/newsletter/

Sign up for The Munsonville Times by emailing us at bryonyseries@gmail.com. The newsletter still isn't official yet, so we don't have an actual link on the website - but we are working on it! 

SOCIAL MEDIA

Daily updates: I do post the briefs on Twitter during the week, so you're welcome to follow me at @Denise_Unland61.

BryonySeries stuff: I post curated content relating to the BryonySeries at @BryonySeries. And assorted related content at www.facebook.com/BryonySeries.

And of course, please follow the adventures of Bertrand the Mouse on Instagram at bertrand_bryonyseries.

BRYONYSERIES BOOKS

For books and more information about the series, visit bryonyseries.com.

BRYONYSERIES EVENTS

A full month of virtual events can be found at bryonyseries.com/calendar-of-events-1.

QUESTIONS

Email me at bryonyseries@gmail.com.

Thank you for reading The Herald-News. And for reading this blog. And if you've read (or plan to read) any of my books. Your support is greatly appreciated.


FEATURES

Joliet Area Historical Museum offers family friendly fun on weekends

LocalLit book preview: ‘The Neighbor’s Wife’ is a novel that addresses domestic abuse: Review of this thriller by Jeanne Meeks of #NewLenox will be featured in Tuesday’s LocalLit newsletter

And the promised review is here.

D. 202 students in Plainfield are now attending school 5 half days a week: Take a glimpse of their first day back 

Loss of Smith YMCA not a total loss to East Side, CEO saysGreater Joliet YMCA points to neighborhood programs, but others note another pool is gone 

An Extraordinary Life:‘She was tough, but she was sensitive’: Lockport honors the memory of its first female police officer with a fire pit and dedication ceremony

Troy 30-C approves hiring of new administrators: School board approved positions at March meeting

Plainfield nonprofit raises money to rebuild kitchen, feed 174 students at Haiti school: 'Hungry Hearts’ campaign runs through April 30

Pets of the Week: April 12: Will County rescues have dogs and cats for adoption 

Will County making progress in vaccinating brown, Black communities: Health depart. partnering with other social service organizations to coordinate COVID vaccine appointments 

D. 92 board of education waives registration fees for the 2021-2022 school year: Families of incoming kindergarten students must register online

Excellence in the arts is alive and well among Will County students: Students in Joliet and Plainfield earn awards, JCA National Art Honor Society members bring beauty to foster children 

RE/MAX honors #Shorewood agent, Plainfield broker for giving back, community service

Principal at Lockport School created an environment of togetherness and inclusion

Joliet Township High School Class of 1958 to host 80th birthday party reunion: Make reservations now for May 1 event 

Plainfield school will have new assistant principal next year: Erin Allison will serve as assistant principal at Liberty Elementary School 

Joliet author publishes economics book for kids: Review of ‘Abdurrahi’ms ABC Economics for Children’ coming Tuesday

Murder mystery musical, nature programs, charity sewing event: Will County Inside/Outside Guide offers tips for enjoying your weekend and beyond





Illustration by Matt Coundiff for "Visage."



Thursday, April 15, 2021

Signs of Spring to Brighten Your Day

I know very little about photography as these pictures will show.

Still, I can't resist pointing my cell phone camera at the really love things I see during my mornign walks with Rebekah, just so I can look at them again.

Here are five highlights from Monday.












Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Hats

I remember the first time I decided I liked the look of a hat.

I was twelve and still living at 2108 Belmont Avenue in Joliet, which backed up to Highland Park and was just up the street from Pilcher Park.

I had a visting friend (don't rmember who) and we had met up with another friend (Lisa) to go bike riding in Pilcher Park, the only time in my childhood I was allowed to go (have no idea why that day was the exception).

I remember Lisa making adjustments to her bike. She was wearing a hat.

I was hooked.

However, I didn't know anyone in high school or college who wore hats. The same was true as I entered my twenties.

Then when I was twenty-five, I joined St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Homewood. The pastor's wife, Slavka, always wore a hat to church. A friend of mine, who joined around the same time, started wearing a hat, too. 

I was too poor to buy a hat, so my friend bought one for me, too. More and more people gave me hats. I've probably had more than sixty hats over the years but have only bought half a dozen of them or so.

I've even had elderly women give me hats they wore in THEIR twenties - or hats that belonged to their mothers.

Below are a sampling of me in hats. This is by no means every hat I own. These are just the only pictures I could find.

I hope you have as much fun scrolling through them as I did scrolling through files and picking them out.

The first two are from my search a couple years ago for the perfect Easter hat. I could only afford one and noe of the hats in these pictures came home with me.





The next few photos are from a story about a vintage hat exhibit I covered, hosted by the Will County Historical Society. Our news editor at the time thought I should try on the hats, too, and run that as a column, since hats had become my signature "thing."

You see, since I had so many hats, I figured I could wear them to work. So I wore one the first day to establish the habit and have rarely wavered from that.

Rebekah took the photos with the cell phone technology she had at the time.











Timothy's girlfriend at the time took this photo as I was leaving home to walk to work. It's 2016, and I dubbed myself, "The editor in the yellow hat" a throwback reference to the Curioius George books, which my children adored.

I think Sarah gave it to me, but I can't remember for certain. It might have been mother. I just remember someone bought it on a whim for me years ago.




I wrote An Extraordinary Life story for The Herald-Years probably a dozen or more so years ago about a woman who collected hats. Her daughter showed up at the distribution center one day with the woman's hats and gave them to me, she liked the story that much.

This photo is from a WriteOn Joliet open mic night in 2017 at the Book an Bean Cafe (located inside the Joliet Public Library). 

The owner, Tammy Duckworth, hosts us once or twice a year (pre-pandemic) and is one of the nicest people I've ever met. 




My mother-in-law gave me this hat in the early 1990s. I remember wearing it to church when I was expecting Daniel, so in 1995.My mother-in-law leaned into Sarah and said, "Where did your mother get that awful pink hat?" Sarah grinned and said, "You."

Here I am at a book signing for Bryony with another former WriteOn Joliet member.




In 2017, I wrote a story about three Joliet Franciscans that were at least one hundred years old. As I took a photo of the Sisters with my cell phone, the marketing representative for the order took a photo of me.

This blue hat, one of my favorites, is also from the daughter of the woman who collected hats.




In 2018, Daniel's girlfriend Cindy treated Rebekah, Daniel, Bertrand the Mouse, and me to an afternoon on a cruise ship in Chicago.




Here is my sister and I inside my father's office on his birthday, July 17, 1982. At the time, my father owned and operated an architectual firm in New Lenox inside the former United Methodist Church building at 112 Church Street. 

The New Lenox Methodist Church had built a new church in the late 1970s and sold this building, which my father bought in 1979 and converted into office space. It was, I believe, the first real office space in New Lenox.

The New Lenox Historical Society now owns the building. An Eastern Orthodox chapel rents part of the space, the same space that housed my dad's company and where I worked during part of my college years. 

On thihs particular birthday, my mother suprised my father with a catered lunch and thought it would be fun if my sister and I dressed up as Victorian wait staff. My sister got to be the French maid because she was young and cute (as opposed to me at twenty and just three and a half months past my first Cesarean section).

Besides, I could wear my silk collapsible top hat, which I had found in my boyfriend's apartment (a Joliet police officer, now deceased) during my first semester of college in 1979. I think he had worn it to a wedding. I thought it was the coolest thing. He had no use for it. So I took it home.

My first husband wanted the hat. I gave it to him one Easter and never saw it again.





Three WriteOn Joliet members at a 2017 WriteOn Joliet Christmas party at Cemeno's. 




Last year on Facebook, someone asked if I was going to wear a hat, so I did. This is one of the few hats I bought. I saw it at Walmart about seven or so years ago and bought it because I love blue.

It was too floppy to wear to work (kept obstructing the view of my computer), so I rarely wore it. But it was perfect to cover a story for Western Easter in a pandemic - a church pastor singing Easter humns and playing his guitar from his balcony.




In 2015 (I think), Timothy and I sat on the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Republic Street is Joliet and gave away candy to the passersby. 




Reconnecting with my cat Hope in Morris in 2014 after she ran away. This hat is one of two that my second husband Ron bought on a whim after we were divorced (he had the beginnings of dementia at the time and needed care, and we had lost our home when he had lost his job). 

But he had seen the hats and thought of me. I still have the hats, and I still think of Ron when I wear them.

We had four cats when we were in-between homes, and it stressed them to get bounced around from house to house of other relatives. Finally Hope ran away and was gone for three months. As the weddding of my oldest son was beginning, Skinner Animal Clinic in Wilmington called to say it had my cat.

Hope had found her own home in Morris. When the new owner took her to his vet for a checkup, they found the chip and called us. We were in a rental situation at the time and could not keep all our cats.

One of them, Frances, also found a new home at a shop in Morris. She is now back with us as our situation has changed. Hope is still in Morris because the new owner is very attached to her. We still have open visitation but have not seen her since the pandemic began.

I miss her, the stinker.




Rebekah and I pose for a quick photo for Witches Night Out in 2013 at the old Joliet Junior College Renaissance Center in Joliet. Rebekah oversaw my table while I joined my Writeon Joliet conrades in an ongoing open mic event.




A promo photo for the BryonySeries at the former P. Seth Magosky Musem of Victorian Life in Joliet. A Joliet costume design had made the dress for me, which I ruined by spilling coffed down its front at a book signing at Frugal Muse in Darien.

A member of the marketing team had arranged the shoot. He wanted me unsmiling for, you know, the "Victorian" look. Rebekah laughed at me from behind the scenes.

The at is a real vintage hat, again from the collection of vintage hats from the An Extraordinary Life woman.




Rebekah and I pose at The Book Market in Crest Hill during the 2018 anthology release part for WriteOn Joliet. The hat is one of the few I did actually buy.

I saw it in a bin at a craft store on the way to checkout. It's a top hat, purple (a BryonySeries color), and has a spider web nettting that you can't see - perfect for to advertise a book series that features some vampires.




My mother bought me this big purple hat with feathers to wear to a Witches Night Out event at the Renaissance Center in 2012. Rebekah took the photo because we thought we ought to have one for marketing. I sold a surprising amount of books that night, so the photo was an afterthought at the end of the event.

Cell phone technology has certainly improved through the years. Dig those gloves!




Another photo from the Renaissance Center in Joliet. This time, I was covering a story for The Bugle on the "groundbreaking" of the new Joliet Junior College city center campus.

Timothy was a student at the time and worked the event. I bought the coat from a sale rack at Marshall Field in Louis Joliet Mall for $150 at the end of 1998. The fabric is amazing, and I said at the time I would probably never own another winter coat - the fabric would outlast me.

That may be true.

However, the coat is now coming apart at the seams and has already been restitched in places. Rebekah gets it professionally cleaned for me a couple times a year, and it always comes back looking brand new.

The hat is another one from the An Extraordinary Life collection. It has a magenta ribbon with gold ribbon through it and a large magenta rose in the front (all of which you can't see).

It's a favorite hat of mine - both for the look and because it fits my head perfectly.





Ed Calkins wanted to recreate his morning pose at a middle of the night book signing for the release of Visage at the newspaper distribution center in Rockdale.

I'm wearing that same winter coat and a black felt hat I bought in the late 1980s to wear with a red and black dress to a wedding. I still wear that hat. It works well with lots of different clothes, still looks new, and fits just right on my head.

This hat and coat is the official uniform of "The Goddess" in Ed's first novel Ruthless.

The "pose" is the way he would hand me my paperwork at one o'clock in the morning, every morning. I took out more newspapers a day than any other carrier (mroe than nine hundred and fifty), with Ron close behind me at eight hundred. And the kids were in the center with us nearly every day, studying spelling words while they rolled. They have amazing work ethics to this day.

So Ed dubbed me "The Paper Goddess," which he eventually shortened to "The Goddess."




Here I am, along with Bertrand the Mouse, in 2017 at Dottie's Art Studio summer art camp in Plainfield. She had invited me to visit three sessions and read selections from three different BryonySeries books so the kids could illustrate what they read.

The hat is a heavy leather hat. It had belonged to my paternal grandfather, who died from colon cancer at the age of 62 in January 1969. I was in the second grade and only met him once, that I recall.

But the memory is a good one. And the hat makes me feel close to him.




Timothy took this photo of me taking a picture of the holiday lights in Plainfield in 2019. The hat was a  gift from Daniel. It has a cat on the front and a place to put a battery so it light up.

The battery part has long since fallen off. But I love this hat for its good fit. It doesn't creep up over my ears the way many winter hats do.


And that is that.