Open Mic Night 2023: Denise M. Baran-Unland

20 Quotes from "Lycanthropic Summer"

When we were getting ready to release Bryony back in 2011, my daughter Sarah (who most of the social media marketing for me at that time) suggested I pull thirty teaser quotes from the book.

She would then post one each day on Facebook in the month leading up to the book's release.

We did the same for the second book, Visage, which is also part of the BryonySeries.

But for some reason, I never pulled any marketing quotes for the rest of the books.

So now I am catching up, one book at a time.

Here is the synopsis for Lycanthropic Summer, followed by some quotes. 

Caryn Rochelle loves werewolf stories and promised herself she would write the world's greatest werewolf love story before her eighteenth birthday. But with the date just months away, Caryn has shredded more drafts than she's kept and is feeling desperate.

But then she learns the town's most prestigious couple has a dark secret: they're keeping a savage boy her age locked in their basement. One glimpse, and Caryn's inspiration skyrockets. Caryn knows she ought to report them, but...

Can it really hurt to wait until she finishes her story?

Now this book has a Jeckyll/Hyde-ish protagonist: the author and her main character, whom she based off herself.

This book also has three parts, which run together: the protagonist's diary, her manuscript, and her short werewolf stories (none of those quotes is from the shorts).

And look - Blogger kept the book font intact!

Finding the right quotes was challenging because the protagonist has, what my mother used to call, "a mouth on her."

First, I'm sharing one quote from the introduction.

Then I'm sharing three quotes from each of the book's three parts.

And finally I'll share a snippet from each of the manuscript's chapters.

Enjoy!

The Introduction:

The waitress brought the bill. Dad reached for his wallet. It's old and worn, more beige than tan, but hell, I was six when I bought it for him at Santa's Secret Shoppe. (Stupid dumb spelling at the end. It was only the school basement).

The Diary:

June

Wanna hear about my pretend friends? No, I’m not crazy. They’re all real people that THINK they’re real friends because I let them think that. It makes life easier. Mom threatened to send me to a head-shrinker if I didn’t’ make some, so here ya go.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity." I think Charles Dickens was really writing about prom night.

Then he sits down and takes out his pipe and lights it. We all sit quietly together, Dad smoking, Aunt Silly rocking, and me hunched on the wicker chair with my knees to my chin, reveling in the sounds of the night and the creak of the old wood and the smell of tobacco, a robust and fragrant smell that’s hard to describe except that it smells like a hunt at night.

July

I think rain can add other moods, too. Think of the desolate sadness you feel in a gray dreary rain. Think of a storm of tears, where your face is so wet you can’t tell where the tears start and the rain ends. It’s like the whole world is having a long, lonely cry. And you’re outside walking in rivers of despair.

Would you believe even the meat shoppe buys Aunt Silly’s jewelry? It’s true! A place that grinds up animals into human food wants to sell chatoyant gems on delicate wire.

Traveling with Aunt Silly is a lot different than traveling with Dad. First of all, she doesn’t drive a brand-new Ferdinand XGE with air conditioning. No, she drives an old Mode 9. It’s full of rust and dents, but it powers up like a beast and has a super smooth ride. Plus, we both smoked our lungs out all the way there. 

August

There’s a melancholy in August I can’t describe. Almost as if my spirit senses the dying summer and silently mourns the loss.

Do you have a Mom, Maggie? Was she a card-playing, chain-smoking boozer, or was she the starched aprons, homemade chocolate chip type? Does it really matter – as long as the love is there?

The favor’s most proper. But a dishonest weapon disrupts the trend. A hypnotic comet streaks the sky. I scoop and scoop, but the fluid pours out and won’t go back.

The manuscript:

Chapter 1: Paw Prints

The moon stays with me, every step. The tracks lead me to a house, open and vulnerable in a little clearing all by its forsaken self, spotlighted under the moon.

Who would build a house in the middle of an empty space and then abandon it?

The house is old and creaky. The wind bangs the loose shutters and rattles its broken glass.

My naked skin gets goosebumps, and I shiver. I wrap my arms around me, but hair and arms don’t keep my skinny body very warm.

Chapter 2: The Walking Stick

I tremble at the thought of wandering through the open field, eternally lost.

     As I’m thinking, I realize I’m sinking.

     I sink past my ankles, and my heart sinks lower than that.

     Where is my Randy, I say in my soul. Where is the old, lonely house holding my hairy beast boy?

Chapter 3: Not a Regular Drink of Water

If you can help me find the scientist and where he keeps the aconite, I will be able to escape. I will be able to run past the hill. You won’t have to come to me. I will come for you. And then we can run free together forever.

Chapter 4: The Clock Man

A month is too long to wait for another full moon, but so is sixty seconds when you’re apart from your wolf mate.

But the world is full of people who can bend the laws of nature, and many of them live near me.

Rosie is one. The Clock Man is another.

Chapter 5: Magic Ointment

Before I leave, I lay the rowan cane near the door before I lock it. This is not as easy as it sounds. The cane was not by my door when I woke up, and the search for it was long and irritating. Finally, I found it. This time the cane was at the edge of the property, past the old gardens, and half buried by dead leaves. I wipe all the blood from the cane onto the grass, give that naughty cane a good spanking, and then carry it back to the door and set it in place.

Chapter 6: Liquid Silver

Overhead, the silver moon is molten and melting. I think of rainy afternoons at my bedroom window, watching streaks trickle paths. Yes, this is what I think as the moon’s viscous fluid oozes down; a childhood that was never simple or innocent, a childhood that was now, thankfully, gone.

Chapter 7:  Where Does Your Garden Grow?

With a claw, Randy lightly, so lightly I can scarcely perceive it, traces my face. He starts at my forehead and proceeds counterclockwise. His claw glides and slides, turns and twists, and I realize it’s dancing. His claw is dancing widdershins on my face.

Chapter 8: Turning Point

I’m wearing my long white nightgown; my feet are bare and touching the earth. I’m seeking, seeking. I’m still the huntress, but my prey is knowledge, the whereabouts of the aconite. To ask its mistress to give up her secrets, I must approach the mistress directly. I never dared before tonight. Pretense always works well for me, but it won’t do now.

Chapter 9: Finally Free

Night has fully blossomed by the time our feet touch down by my back door, and the wild roses that grow up around my house wrap us in its spicy aura. The sky is drenched in darkness, and all nature feels it. The stars aren’t whispering their faraway secrets; the katydids and crickets have silenced their songs; and even yard toads have stifled their shrill calls. This is what happens when you bring a werewolf to your home on a summer evening. 

Chapter 10: Under a Full Moon Rising

With no regard for the pebbles embedded in the hardpacked dirt, I keep running and running, over the sharp pricks of pine needles and shards of soda pop bottles; my feet slip because they’re powdered with dirt, but still I press onward until I smell the pink soap, golden baby shampoo, gunpowder, and blood.

"Werewolves and Zombies, the Tale of Two Teens: Book Reviews" by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara

Only Ed Calkins can compare and contrast two books that are seemingly dissimilar on the surface: "Lycanthropic Summer" and "Flower Power."

I'm thrilled to be placed in the same category as Lindsay Lake.

Dear MOMI,

It was good to see you in person. I know you're really busy but here is the book review that Linsey might want to read

                          

  "Werewolves and Zombies, the Tale of Two Teens: Book Reviews"

I’d like to introduce you to two teenage girls with some things in common. Both find themselves facing adulthood in the 1960’s and have some untraditional plans that may seem naïve yet so relevant to more mature adults living in present times.

The youngest is a creation of Denise M. Baran-Unland in the novel "Lycanthropic Summer."  Caryn Rochelle plans to start her adulthood by being very rich; much wealthier than her mother who divorced her father when she inherited big. But seventeen-year-old Caryn has a less conventional way in mind. She is going to write the greatest werewolf love story ever written before her eighteenth birthday. She envisions the tours, interviews, and book signings after that will surely keep her a wealthy, busy, young adult.

There is a small problem, however, and it’s described in an interesting way. Caryn has yet to write a single word of it and it's already June 1st. Her birthday is in late August. Her dad, the only person that isn’t dead and is still of use to her has an answer, be it a cheesy one. It’s a yellow diary with a childish lock and key. The bulk of the novel is a dated letter to an imaginary friend, “Maggie”, who was a classmate of hers but never an actual friend. There are other pretend friends, too, in the story. But it’s the friendship, not the teenage girls, that are imagined with Caryn secretly disdaining them while keeping up appearances of a close-knit inner circle.

Caryn is a true lone wolf; cynical, imaginative, vulgar, and sexually inexperienced. Early in the novel, she gets in trouble when she attempts to change that inexperience after her prom dance in her boyfriend’s car. Still, both the boyfriend and the experience seemed designed to give her something to complain about rather than satisfy adolescent urges. She gets caught by a policeman and grounded in a way that grants her mother a summer without a daughter stealing cigarettes from her purse.

Mother sends daughter to live with dad and her aunt Silly in a tourist prison called Shelby where her father has a veterinarian office and a place he shares with his sister, who makes her living by crafting and selling jewelry to the tourist trap shops. Caryn adapts to her new prison quite well. One might expect to find her just a rich kid spoiled brat, but she’s almost the opposite, looking for any opportunity to help Dad with his veterinarian office and Aunt Silly with her jewelry. Caryn won’t admit it, but she’s also quite fond of her easy-going unconventional aunt.

Caryn’s prison quarters are about the size of her bathroom at home, but she seems to prefer it, even though her bedroom door is misfitted to the frame and doesn’t close all the way. Housework has an interesting pattern well suited to teenage sensibility. 

The journal fills with the wisdom of adolescence and werewolf lore along with some of Caryn’s short werewolf stories. The writer has talent, but the wisdom is confined to her number of years. The days of Shelby fall into rhythm, but no "Greatest Werewolf Love Story" emerges.

One might expect that a seventeen-year-old might mingle with the local teens, sharing cigarettes and ways to make trouble. Caryn keeps to herself, her aunt, her father, and the animals under her father’s care. But a rumor causes curiosity to creep into her writer’s mind and she explores a rich native’s estate. Through a window she finds a naked, hairy, teenage boy chained to a basement wall. Naturally, she expects to spend her reward money promoting her book when she turns the captors in; but another idea claims her attention.

The writer gets an idea and, just as quickly, the greatest werewolf love story gets its first chapter. As the journal fills, the other chapters only get written every time she conducts her clandestine visits to her chained naked muse. As a reader, you can feel the urgency as the pages yet to read grow smaller and the progression of chapters seem to fail to claim those pages. The village of Shelby has its secrets, but the revelations are all shadowed. Caryn has a deadline that her father seems to legitimize.

I’ll give you one hint. As you’re reading the novel, keep an eye on that door that doesn’t close and also the misbehaving rowan cane and the power of the native flowers. Except for the "f" bombs which I find humorous, the story is not one word longer than it needs to be and its full sense isn’t revealed till the book’s last sentence.

The story of an older teenage girl starts in a hick town in Texas sometime after the Beatles invaded the States. In the novel, "Flower Power" by Lindsay Lake, Shelby is the protagonist looking for a life that doesn’t depend on marriage. Like Caryn, Shelby is independent, creative, and has a smart streak that seems to fail her early on. Unlike Caryn, Shelby loves everyone and is quite interested in boys almost to the point of addiction.

She wants to be a nurse, but her high school grades rule out college. She works as a nurse’s aide with German nuns in a newly built hospital. But then, she talks with an Air Force recruiter. The Air Force could make her a nurse. She signs on the dotted line and is shipped to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas for her secretarial training! That’s the last thing she wants, and she makes that clear to her assignment officer despite a warning not to make waves. Was that her first mistake or was it being too dismissive of a pair of guys boasting that they could get her assignments anywhere in the world?

In either case, she’s flown out to begin her four year sentence on Thule Airbase in Greenland, where the sun rises once a year. Once on the base, she hopes to meet handsome pilots, but is confronted by zombies who overrun the base. Hmm. "Zombies" and "overrun" might be an exaggeration. Zombies would have more personality and "overrun" implies that they are acting in unison. No, the airmen, contractors, and support staff aren’t undead, they just look like it and the dull grey that covers everything doesn’t help much. It seems like everyone on the base is dead inside and mental illness threatens in many forms. They drink too much, fight, rape, and kill themselves when they are not too busy being clinically depressed.

On her first day, Shelby meets her two commanding Captains. Madonna Wakowski, who runs the hospital, is an RN with a manlike haircut and a likable disposition. Dr Alan Markkov has the charm and looks of a grumbling homeless man with an unkempt long beard and dark circles under his eyes. Being the only doctor on the base left the man and the clinic he worked in gigantic mess; one that Shelby got right down to cleaning up. He doesn’t impress her, but she does have what could pass for dinner with him in the officer’s mess hall. Dr Alan gulps down his food and leaves for his quarters before she’s halfway through her meal.

Once in her quarters, her neighbor Nan informs her that they both have dates with the base commander and a friend. She dresses for the Officers Club she had heard about, but instead finds herself at the friend’s apartment where drinking is taking very seriously. Shelby gets bad vibes and bails. 

The next morning, Shelby is late, and Captain Wakowski has a new patient; the base commander who got drunk and tried to force himself on Nan who happened to study karate. All that happened on the first day.

Because of my enthusiasm for the novel, I’m in danger of telling the story instead of letting the author do it. What I can tell you is Shelby appoints herself as an activities director. Her first task is to change the color of the walls. Surprised that she had no trouble getting the Air Force to send Thule gallons of paint that isn’t grey, she was even more surprised at the ease of getting contractors and airmen to volunteer to paint.

She has other ideas too and the bulk of the novel is the execution and effect of them, sometime unintended. There is also the matter of sex, lovers, and storms both inside the buildings and out.

Will a simple flower child be able to fight back the tide of zombies or is the base doomed to suicide, riots, and starvation, not to mention nuclear war? She does have allies. The base commander isn’t the jerk he makes of himself, rather he, too, is the victim of the craziness of the desert snow.

Later, two other characters, DeSoto, an angry black airman, and Beau, a brawling young contractor sporting long hair and piercings, join her quest and mix it up with the base in varying ways. All the main allies journal their pain. Although the entries don’t take up much of the novel, each informs of some secret insanity looming. Even Shelby is not doing as well as she appears and her plea to her childhood imaginary friend Buc will break your heart. To the reader I’ll give a hint. Keep your eyes on the weather and the dog sleds as the ending takes a hard left turn.

But how am I to make these tales of two teenage girls all about me? I have to come up with something. I could say things like; while "Flower Power" is historical fiction, the werewolf novel is hysterical fiction, (please don’t make me pronounce that title again,). All the f bombs did make me laugh. I could say that the name Caryn sounds like ‘caring’ which is a big part of Caryn’s character. I could say that Shelby sounds like "shall be" which sound like a biblical Beatles’ song or something often proclaimed by a very confident activities director.

I could be clever and insightful by pointing out that werewolves are the perfect metaphor for adolescence. I could also claim that "Flower Power" tells the story that modern life is decades removed from. In the Vietnam era the nation was sharply divided, suffered runaway inflation, and lived in fear that the Russian's aggression would lead to the end of the world. Wait…never mind.

I could sound ridiculous by stating that the major difference between the two novels is the location of power that combats the wolfs and zombies. In the first, it’s the power of flowers that grow inside of Shelby. In the second, it’s the flower power that grows inside of Shelby.

I will admit you might read both books and disagree.

Here’s something you can’t disagree with because you lack the authority. I have two new imaginary friends and a lot in common with both of them. People that have worked with me might think I’m more like Shelby. We both have had the same unofficial jobs. But I am most of the time more like Caryn in keeping to myself.

Caryn has no use for anyone her age, or as she puts it "anyone that isn’t dead". Is it fear that motivates that? Oh, I know she does not agree and would use her string of f bombs say so. But I know fear and am inclined to project it on her. Is it her, me, or both that distain company because of fear of getting her/mine/our feelings hurt? Or is it the reverse? Are we afraid of the monsters inside of us hurting other people? One thing about Caryn is that she believes herself to be a great writer. I can’t say that about myself. If I could have just a little of her confidence, maybe I could pretend to believe which would lead to believing, which would lead to being. You see why I’m keeping her around.

Then there’s Shelby. It’s going to come out of me anyway so I might as well admit it. I have a crush on Shelby. For a man my age, you might call that creepy. I’d rather you call it ruthless. How can I help it? When Shelby looks at me with big blue eyes, her lit-up smile, and Jane Fonda haircut, she’s bouncing on the balls or her toes almost too excited to tell me about the new activity she’s just thought of. She’s irresistible, even if I have to share her with guys more endowed than me.

Caryn is my "writers block" buddy. I imagine her to the right of me as I type on my computer and she’s scribbling in that yellow dairy.

“How’s it coming, Mouse?” I would call her that. I’m about the same age as her father in this fantasy and he called her that. “What are you writing just now?”

“No way!” she’d insist. “I’m not giving you my werewolf love story for free. You have to buy it like anyone else.”

But I can see she’s at her diary and not at the typewriter. She knows she’s busted.

"What about you?” she asks.

“I’m writing, but I’m not sure anyone’s going to read it.”

“Bleep that blah!” She uses more colorful words. “Write any way you think and if any of the Bleeping Blobbing blahs can’t understand the bleeping blobbing blah you’re trying to say…well bleep em. Besides, my werewolf love story is going to make so much money you’ll never have to bleeping blah again. And if any bleeping bleeper bleeps the blah out of you I’ll beeping …well you know what I’ll do.”

“Thanks, Mouse.”

 Shelby is for a different time. When I feel like my Greenland is an island of cold, white, old age surrounded by death, I’ll be alone in my barrack’s apartment, and she knocks on my door.

“It’s open,” I tell her. There’s no reason to lock it.

“Are you OK?” she asks, but she can see that I’m not. “Is there anything I can do for you? Anything at all?”

Hmm,… but no. I tell her, leaving out the ‘hmm’.

Big blue eyes stare back at me hopefully.

“Is there anything you can do for you?”

“Yes,” I admit. “I could check the signup sheets for some activity I might enjoy or write in my journal. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to pick up a phone.”

But her blue eyes haven’t left mine. She’s still hoping as if she’s coaching the words from my mouth.

“Or I could come up with my own activity and print out sheets for that.”

That’s what she wants to hear from me.

“But the mail came today, Shelby. My world is smaller than it was and the activities that I once enjoyed I’m now too old for and have less people in my life to share what’s left.”

Shelby doesn’t answer. With tears forming in her eyes she buries her face in my chest and wraps her arms around me. For a minute or more, there is nothing but the body heat and empathy between a young, tired woman and a dried-out old man.

“Is it time to plan a hard left turn," she whispers, still embracing me.

“Not yet, Sweety. Not yet."

 My girls…not yours. I imagined them first. Well, maybe the authors played some small part but it’s my imagination that makes them so real. You’re not going to understand any of this until you read the books, and I should get back to telling you why you must read them.  I’m reviewing with my own system of grading.

“Lycanthropic Summer’ is an easy read with profanity, humor, mystery, and the astute observation of an adolescent that showcases her talent but stays within the experiences her years allowed. The book makes good use of fonts and forces you to reevaluate its plot line after you’ve finished the book's last sentence. Do yourself a favor and don’t read ahead. I give it five out of five.

"Flower Power’ is an insightful masterpiece with a firm grip on the history and psychology of the men and women who served at that time in that place. It is fictional, but for each bump in the plot there is a comparable historical twist according to my source, who implies some of his information is still classified. (He brags a lot.) But regardless of whether the plot is meant to mirror actual incidence, Lindsay Lake gives her characters a balance yet makes you care about them. For some that lived during the Vietnam era, the book may bring painful memories which is testament to its truthfulness. For those who have not lived in the era, it’s a must-read lest we forget the lessons the U.S. military learned. The book is a page turner but expect more tears than laughs. I give it five out of five.

Caryn from the werewolf book gets five packs of cigarettes. (To understand my willingness do that, read the book)

Shelby from “Flower Power” gets five red roses.

An Eclectic Collection of Christmas Gifts from Some Really Awesome People

My family will conclude the main part of the Christmas season on January 7, the day when some of us will gather and open our gifts.

It is also a day when we will distribute gifts to other members of the family and celebrate Rebekah's birthday.

However, some really dear loved ones surprised me with spectacular gifts in December. 

Do you know what's most wonderful about receiving gifts? Every time you see a gift, or use it, your mind and heart immediately go straight to the person who gave it, and you feel the warmth of your time together.

Whether a person is physically near or physically too far away, gifts given and received in love create more love.

So here is the eclectic collection.

And yes, this gift box was one of the gifts, from Timothy. He came home from a dinner in Naperville one night and suprised me with these chcoolate truffles (below).

If you can believe it, most of them are still not eaten, since we've had other Christmas treats in the house, most of them made/baked by Rebekah.

But I have been eating them and sharing them two at a time with the other three people in my home. 

I take two matching ones, split them in half, and distribute.

This book is a gift from Kathleen Ellinger, whom I interviewed for The Herald-News in 2018, and I subsequently reviewed one of her books for the now cancelled LocalLit newsletter.

Her sister Terri has since created some pen and ink illustrations for certain Bertrand the Mouse books.

Kathleen is now a dear friend on social media. And on St. Nicholas Day (December 6), she dropped off the above book of her original poetry and artwork for me at The Herald-News...

...along with this bookmark she created...

...and this really sweet note. And, yes, I am enjoying her book immensely. You can buy it here.

My very first BryonySeries fan in the whole world surprised me with this mug, which also arrived on St.Nicholas Day.

Bobbi discovered my first book Bryony shortly after its release in 2011 through the piano music of James Onohan, who composed and performed ten original songs for the BryonySeries CD, including the "Bryony" theme song.

She loved my books so much, she even approached the now defunct Hastings Entertainment and begged it to carry them, which it did. Isn't she amazing?

We have spoken just twice, the last time being 2020. We have made it our goal to finally meet once this pandemic has become endemic (she has health issues, too).

Here is the back of the mug! I love it!

The little coffee guy in the background on the left is from Duanne, one of the orignal members of WriteOn Joliet, who gifted it to me several years ago.

I met Duanne at a book signing shortly after the release of Bryony. The Three Rivers Arts Council in Minooka hosted the event back when it rented the old Minooka firehouse. 

A blurb ran in The Herald-News, Duanne saw it, and out he came, heading straight for the book. He also brought a journal of his own writings, which he shared with me that day.

And this is the lovely card (in my favorite shade of blue) that Bobbi sent to accompany the mug.

This coffee sticker is another gift from Duanne (not from this year). I adhered the stick to a cabinet door of my former computer area. The setup wasn't very stable, and it did not survive one of our moves.

However, Duanne is important to me, and the sticker was, too. So Timothy removed the little cabinet door before sending the rest of the setup to the dumpster.

The little door stood on a shelf by my computer in my last bedroom.

And it now sits at the coffee bar in my new townhome.

Duanne gifted me with this candle for Christmas this year.

It reminded him of the BryonySeries standalone werewolf novel I released in 2020.

The novel, about a teen girl trying to write the world's greatest love story, buys little mementoes that she hopes will trigger her use. One of these items is a candle.

I select a thick pine chunk with black flecks. It’s called “The Forest at Midnight” and it smells of jasmine and sage, the way I imagine running through the woods at night on my werewolf’s back.

By the way, Duanne's candle smells terrific! 

These two coffee paintings came from my WriteOn Joliet co-leader Tom Hernandez. 

The artist is Tammy Duckworth, owner of the Book and Bean Cafe inside the Black Road Branch of the Joliet Public Library, one of WriteOn Joliet's partners and where we hope to resume in-person meetings once a month in 2022 (the second meeting will continue on Zoom).

Since I don't have a car (and can't drive at night even if I had one), Tom has provided nearly all of my transportion to and from meetings since 2013.

Along with those riders, he has also treated me to dinner and coffee at the Book and Bean Cafe before the meetigs. Think about that a moment: twice a month meetings since 2013. That's a lot of time, gas, and money - many, many a generous gifts.

Until the pandemic, Tammy has also hosted WriteOn Joliet's open mic nights, which we held one to two times a year. Duanne has recorded them, so you can see them here.

Tammy also opens her wall space to local artists and graciously hosted four of my BryonySeries artists in September and October 2018. Joliet TV came out and covered it. you can learn more about the cafe (and those artists) right here. 

An artist herself, Tammy also hosts painting classes in her cafe. I had long admired these coffee mugs Tammy had painted, but they were not for sale.

So Tom (as he told the story), persuaded her to give up one, which was apparently difficult to do.

Once Tom talked Tammy into selling one painting, he talked her into selling a second. He had a point in presenting the pair.

He wanted to remind me of how he and I led WriteOn Joliet all these years (the two cups) along with all the great coffee, double hot dogs (me), and open mics, and more we have shared and enjoyed in her marvelous community space.

This was a surprise gift from Janet Staley, owner of The Book Market in Crest Hill. This longstanding bookstore for new and used books is super friendly to local and independent authors and is WriteOn Joliet's second community partner.

WriteOn Joliet typically hosts its annual anthology release at The Book Market, but we moved it to the Joliet Public Library this year (after canceling it altogether last year), for reasons of space - and more efficient social distancing.

Janet was to handle all checkouts, so she would still benefit from our sales, too. But then she unexpectedly hospitalized, so Tom handled the anthology portion of checkouts and donated a percentage to the store.

Then Tom and I held back-to-back signings at her bookstore the Saturday before Christmas. All of us sold well that day: Janet, Tom, and I. Janet was super happy.

So why this gift? 

You can read those details here. And you can buy WriteOn Joliet's fifth anthology here.

But the short reason for why Janet gifted this particular village piece is that I'm the features editor for The Herald-News in Joliet.

Along with the Christmas village piece, Janet included this lovely three dimensional card with an even lovlier note to accompany the beautiful gift.

I  had written several stories about the author of this book before her death - and then wrote this tribute piece to her after she had died.

When she started her beautiful blog around the time I started mine (2010), I followed it until she stopped writing. You can still read her posts here. 

I wanted to buy a copy of the above book at the 2019 WriteOn Joliet anthology release party - and it was sold before I could get to it.

But a friend loaned me his copy - and I subsequently wrote this review about the book.

Sophia's daughter Maureen Blevins is now a member of WriteOn Joliet and writes this cheerful blog.

Maureen found a few extra copies of this book at her home - and so very thoughtfully gifted me with one of then. Hurray!

Colleen Robbins, a WriteOn Joliet author who has helped with the editing of many of the BryonySeies books, gifted me with these syringe pens, saying they reminded her of Dr. Martin Parks from The Phoenix, which the BryonySeries team released in 2020.

Aren't they awesome?

And, finally, WriteOn Joliet member Diane Short, who gave me a primer of calligraphy a few years ago when I received a set with a quill pen from BryonySeries artist Topher Gleason (So I could have an awesome signature for events), gifted me with this calendar that members of a calligraphy group, to which she belongs, created.

I waited until January 1 to open the first card. And then I will open the second card on February 1. 

So instead of one gift, Diane really gifted me with twelve little gifts of beauty that I may enjoy the entire year.

May 2022 be, for you, full of love, joy, peace, and yes, creativity and lovely things.

Final story:

Rebekah made this Christmas/winter wreath from white tissue paper on a wire coat hanger. She twisted inexpensive glitter ornaments onto the wire and added a red bow from the dollar store.

Sr. Rita Pawlik (deceased) from St. Bernard's Catholic School in Joliet (the building no longer stands) taught me how to make these in her art class when I was in the sixth grade. 

She loved to play classical music in the background during art class, a habit I adopted and adapted when I home-schooled my six children.

Sarah made many of these wreaths one year (she was no more than nine) as her Christmas gifts to relatives. 

And now Rebekah has made one we can enjoy on the front door of our new home all winter long.

Books and Bombs

If you come out to WriteOn Joliet's fifth anthology release party on Dec. 9 at the Black Road branch of the Joliet Public Library, be sure to stop by the BryonySeries table and check out our books, a "Books and Bombs" special offer, and opportunities to win some books.

You want details about these, right? Sure you do!

And here we go!

Books and Bombs:

Every person who buys one (or more) of these combinations will receive a free, locally chef-made chocolate bomb per combination - while chocolate bombs last.

Chocolate bombs are not limited to one per customer. But for each additional bomb, you must still purchase one of these four combinations.

1) One "regular" young adult or adult BryonySeries book (choices include any book in the "drop of blood" trilogy, Lycanthropic Summer, The Phoenix, Ruthless by Ed Calkins Steward of Tara or any of the Before the Blood books) or Nine Months of Kindness.

2) Any two books in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series.

3) Any three books in the Bertrand the Mouse series.

4) All three of our BryonySeries cookbooks.

To check out our books, visit bryonyseries.com/general-store.

Bertrand the Mouse giveaway

We will "give away" one complete set of all Bertrand the Mouse books published (to date) AND one hand-crocheted Bertrand the Mouse to one lucky person to take home for keeps.

NO purchase is necessary. Just drop your name and contact information in our Bertrand Box. 

A random person (not anyone from our team) will select the winner at the end of the event and leave the prize package at the library's circulation desk for the winner to pick up at his/her convenience.

Holiday "Visage" Giveaway

This BryonySeries book is the second book in the "drop of blood" trilogy and can be read as a standalone.

The book is out of print and only available from us.

It has some "extras" in the back of the book that are not in the official version (such as a picture of me in a kangaroo suit).

The cover is very different.

And it has an introduction by me celebrating artists and creative folk. This is the first and only BryonySeries book that has an introduction.

We will be giving away three of these. Again, NO purchase is necessary. You only need to drop your name into the "Visage" box.

A random person (not anyone from our team) will select the three winners at the end of the event and leave the prize package at the library's circulation desk for the winner to pick up at his/her convenience.

WriteOn Joliet's Fifth Anthology

And, of course, we will have plenty of anthologies (the 2021 anthology and a limited number of past anthologies) available for sale - along with the opportunity to meet many of the writers who contributed to these wonderful books of poems, essays, and short stories.

The anthology is a fundraiser for WriteOn Joliet, so all money stays with the group to support additional programs.

But I live too far away....

For anyone near or far who cannot attend the actual event:

You may purchase the anthology here.

And message me at bryonyseries@gmail.com if you're interested in some of the BryonySeries books.

I will reward your reading of this post by working out a special discount just for you.

For those planning to attend:

The event is from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Joliet Public Library, 3393 Black Road, Joliet.

Great food and drink (including coffee) is available for purchase at the Book and Bean Cafe, which is located inside the library.

ALL purchases of ALL books by ALL authors will be handled at The Book Market's checkout table.

After nearly two years of pandemic living, I'm looking foward to meeting you in person.

Invite your family. 

Invite your friends. 

Invite your neighbors. 

Invite anyone who likes books and great coffee.

For more information, bryonyseries.com, writeonjoliet.com, jolietlibrary.org, and bookmarketjoliet.com.