Teaser Tuesday - Navigating Life Without Atlas

Walking into the town’s dingy little pub was always an experience. Thick scents enveloped your skin as you walked through a dense cloud of smoke and beer. Darkness pressed in on you as the men of the town laughed and caroused. Walking to my regular spot I spotted Alyce and slid across the bench opposite her. Her beer was already half empty and the ice in my Diet coke had started to melt.

“I know I’m late. I’m sorry! I got held up at Akeley’s. Did I miss anything?”                                                    

Alyce laughed, a rich throaty sound that clearly meant she forgave my tardiness.

“Monsieur Peters tried to buy me a drink.”

I couldn’t help laughing as my gaze flicked to the portly Mr Peters whose infatuation with Alyce was the joke of the town.

“Again? That’s what, eight times now?”

“Nine. Maybe I should let him, He always looks like a puppy when I turn him down.”

“Ahh but if you say yes to a drink he’ll think you’re saying yes to...other things. And would you really want to wake up next to that?!”

“You never know.  I like a man who’s shorter than me. Maybe he’s the one.”

“She had to say that as I took a sip. I laughed and swallowed at the same time. Coughing and sputtering, coke sprayed across the table, I tried to breathe only to succumb to the giggles once again. When air finally reached my lungs and I could speak without laughing or choking I looked up again.

“Alyce tell me you’re kidding.” She only looked at me smirking. “You have to be joking! Please dear Gods tell me you’re kidding.” Glancing back to Mr Peters who was now picking his nose I shuddered.

“Tell me you’re kidding or else I’m going to give him your number and tell him you’ve been a very bad girl who needs to be punished.”

She gasped feigning shock “You wouldn’t!”

“Try me!”

We laughed, both taking a long drink before resuming our conversation.

“Oh did I tell you Mrs Allen came in today?”

“Did she buy more?”

“Yep another five books!”

“My God five!!! The amount of ‘romance stories’ that woman reads I’m surprised Mr Allen can walk. She must have quite an encyclopaedia up there.”

“Ahh but maybe she reads them because he doesn’t provide what she wants. A woman her age has needs and I guess that’s one way of satisfying them! Besides who can begrudge her a little lady porn???”

“A woman her age shouldn’t be thinking about sex. She’s 73 thats nasty!”

Hysterical laughter broke out as Mr Allen entered the pub. Glancing at us strangely he simply shuffled to a stool and sat down. He ordered the looked at us again, eyebrows raised in such comic confusion that we couldn’t help laughing again.

Giving Love a Chance...

In this fast paced technological world i think true romanticism has been left in the dust. After all it's the little things that count, for example:
 a sweet letter in the mail instead of a boring email
a quick phone call (even a little post-it left where the other person can find it) to say i love you instead of a text
flowers delivered spur of the moment and NOT to make up for doing something wrong
a surprise picnic
Dropping by with food and a movie when we're sick
Even a mix CD of all the songs that you love/make you think of us.

Most girls aren't high-maintenance. We don't expect jewelery or chocolates all the time. We don't need lavish displays of affection. But what we notice are the little spontaneous heartfelt moments because it is truly the thought that counts. We love knowing you're thinking about us when you're at work or out with friends. And i think people underestimate the care that goes into a good mixtape :P well CD anyway...does anyone else miss tapes? :/

Unfortunately it seems the world has become jaded and lonely. Communication is lost, facebook and twitter etc devalue actual conversation, we have hundreds of 'friends' and yet no-one to actually confide in. Minimal close ties with people lead to lonely existences. C'mon admit it, how many close friends do you actually have? 4? 5? Now look 50 years back, people had dozens of friends and they were happier. Now i'm not saying more friends=happiness but i am saying that people were more patient, had a higher resilience and were simply better at communicating. Besides people rarely left their hometowns, hardly travelling far from home. You fell in love with the boy next door or you ended up a spinster. Now there's too much choice so we're all clinging to the ideal of 'the one' too afraid of 'settling' that we'd rather be alone so we can be available when our ideal man shows up. Bullshit. He's not coming, he doesn't exist, deal with it and actually start looking at what's in front of your eyes. Now i'm not saying people should settle if what they have isn't working or they aren't happy. What I am saying is maybe we should take a closer look at what we have, and not be afraid to take a chance...fear 'ruining a friendship'? Give it a shot anyway...if the mutual feelings are there then maybe you're meant to be more than friends...Think about it...

Everyone's so cynical and jaded now...a guy gives you flowers? Must be feeling guilty. Jewelry? Trying his hand at bribery. Flirts with you? Clearly just wants to get laid and you'll do. This is so sad. We need to stop over-thinking things and sometimes just go with it. Second-guessing others and yourself, self doubt and fear will take you nowhere good. We need to give guys a chance, they cant all be dicks. Some might actually think you're hot and want to get to know you. Or feel like being sweet and giving you flowers. Doesn't mean he's a player, or cheating.

Now I know you must be reading this and being like WTH?! She's a romantic at heart? Since when?! But i'm just trying to say that I think we'd all be much happier if we gave people a chance, let them into our hearts. And most of all, stopped letting our heads rule our hearts. Give love a chance people!!!

For when love isn't enough...

Did a guest blog about soul mates on a friend's page. Feel free to check it out...

http://leasie.blogspot.com/

No power in the 'verse can stop me....except low ratings.

Firefly. One of those fantastic shows that are axed before people know enough about it to love it. Stupidly axed before it's time. Firefly, for those who don't know about it, is set five hundred years in the future. A renegade crew aboard a small spacecraft (called Serenity) tries to survive as they travel the unknown parts of the galaxy and evade warring factions as well as authority agents out to get them. Stars Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Morena Baccarin , Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Jewel Staite, and Adam Baldwin.


But just because the show is gone doesn't mean that it was bad. Firefly was given little to no advertising and most fans, like me, only knew the show existed after Serenity had come out and the show's been axed. Had the show had a better timeslot and advertising it's fanbase then could've rivaled its fan base now and it never would have been cut. 


This show should never be axed simply based on it's sheer comedic value. The characters have such depth to them but they are absolutely hilarious as well. Their quotes are the most memorable of any TV show i have ever watched...and I've seen a lot!  


Joss Whedon is a master world-builder. I would LOVE to be his friend! The world he has built is futuristic yet simple, contrasting between the high tech Core planets and the outlying low tech outer planets. He's even combined English and Chinese to create a language peppered with words which, whilst you might not know the meaning of, you can totally guess the intent behind it. It allows the most inventive swear words and responses without having to bleep anything out. 
For example in a scene where mal is frustratedly trying to learn medical lines he says:
"Ching-wah TSAO duh liou mahng" which means 'frog humping sonofabitch!' And honestly who doesn't enjoy learning swear words in another language?!


Their fans, aka Browncoats, are rabid and obsessive...so upset about the show's abrupt cancellation that they rose up and forced a movie out of the network. Serenity neatly wrapped up the story but a second season could still fill in many of the holes and keep the fans at bay. Besides with the witty banter, tension between the characters, moral issues with loyalty and crime, cool outfits, and sheer space cowboyish of it leaves plenty of content to be explored. 


So tell me guys, have you watched firefly? Do you think it should have been axed? What other shows do you think were axed before their time?


A few other shows I can think of include Tru Calling, Dollhouse,and Moonlight...

Teaser Tuesday - You asked for this....

Since my internet has upped and died on me I'm going to post my teaser early. If you don't watch White Collar, Supernatural, Psych and NCIS you probably aren't going to get this...

Dean Winchester grunted as he was led into a cell by his cuffed wrists. His bruised shoulder aching where the vamp sunk his teeth into his flesh earlier that night. The wiseass navy cop spun him around quickly, removed the cuffs, and made some random reference from what sounded like an old movie. Then Special Agent DiNozzo, or ‘Big D, little i, big N, little ozzo’ as he’d spelt out for Dean’s schoolkid attorney, had smirked and left him there. Alone. With Two pretty boy strangers. Which was weird, the last few times he’s been arrested they’d always been too wary to put him with other people whilst they ran his prints.

“Shawn Spencer. Fake Psychic.” A tanned hand was held out for Dean to shake. He took it warily, eyeing the young man suspiciously.

“Fake psychic?”

“Yeah I used to work for Santa Barbara Police Department. Solved most of their cases till they figured out I was faking. I’m in here for obstruction of justice. Gus’ll get me out soon though. This’ll never stick.”

“Riight. And you are?” Dean turned. Staring down the pretty boy. Who wears a suit in jail?

“Neal Caffrey. Con Man.” Smirking in a way Dean was sure would melt any girl’s panties he held out his hand. Which Dean took neatly filching his watch at the same time.

“Hmm looks like we both had the same idea newbie.” Laughing Caffrey held his hand out, with Dean’s watch dangling from his fingertips.

“You a thief too?”

“Yup. Looks like you are also. So state your name and occupation so we’re all up to date. Maybe we can help each other get out of our respective messes.”

“Hmm you’re smooth Caffrey, I’ll give you that. Fine.” Dean sighed, expelling a large breath of air loudly. Eerily he was beginning to like these brutally honest liars. “Dean Winchester. Hunter.”

“Hunter? Like deer and game?”

Ahh the innocence. Dean turned to Shawn with a deadly expression. “Not exactly. My kind of game is much bigger.”

“Poacher then?” he seemed almost hopeful. Like he half-expected Dean to say he was some kind of serial killer who like to hunt people for fun.

“Wrong again. You know those things that go bump in the night? Monsters. Demons. Ghosts. They’re real and they’re deadly. I hunt them.”

Ebooks

So it seems ebooks are on the rise. As an aspiring author this fills me with fear and disappointment. more and more books are now being published online instead of printed. Whilst good for the environment I think this sucks! I want (if I ever get published) to be able to hold my book, feel the crinkle of the pages, smell the paper. Most importantly I want to see it in a bookcase, on shelves in the shops, walk past someone on the street and see them reading my book. I want to see a wicked smile on someone's face as they get to a good part in my book, hear them stifle a laugh as they turn the page. You simply don't get that with ebooks. Reading something on a screen is boring, your eyes blur as words melt into each other. It lacks the satisfaction of curling up on the couch with a good book, or sitting under a shady tree in the park. Books are there even if you have a powercut or the battery dies. All you need is a little light and imagination.

And what if, like Dark Angel, there's a worldwide electromagnetic pulse and the internet and computers get wiped out??? Millions of books would be lost and if that awful day ever comes I'd like to still have my bookcase full of friends instead of losing it all. And call me old fashioned but i'd still like to have my own mini library, sliding ladder and all.

Pros - cheap, good for the environment,
Cons- too easily replicated can send to hundreds of people or post online instead of passing the book around to a couple of friends, reading on a screen-boring, cant hold it in your hand and turn the page and feel the realness of it. Cant have it on a bookshelf. stuck if your battery dies or there's a powercut.

Overall ebooks ruin reading. Or at least that's my opinion...

Survey says...

What have you just read?
Dark Lover by JR Ward

What are you reading now?
Lover Eternal by JR Ward (book2)

Do you have any idea what you'll read when you're done with that?
Line of fire by Jo Davis, or Demon from the Dark by Kresley Cole

What's the worst thing you were ever forced to read? 
The black echo by Michael Connolly which i eventually finished, Master of the Night by Angela Knight which is didnt finish. Don't hate me...The Hobbit, Animal Farm, Cloudstreet, The Handmaid's tale.

What one book do you always recommend to just about anyone?Fantasy Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon. Harry Potter.

Do you read books while you eat?
Yes! All the time. 

While you bathe?
Yup. Though I've dropped more than my fair share in :(

While you watch movies or TV?
Of Course

While you're on the computer?
Depends if noon'e talking
When you were little did other children tease you about your reading habits?People still do. One girl I work with mocks the fact that i read during my break, and a duy i work with laughs because its 'erotica' according to him. 

What's the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn't put it down?
Kiss of a demon king by Kresley Cole.

Have any books made you cry
Umm, not that I can recall.