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Book Review: Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden history of America’s Cemeteries, by Greg Melville
You’ve moved – how many times already?
A couple times as a child, a few times in college and a lot more boxes, once or twice in truckloads since then, the average American moves more than 11 times in a lifetime. And then one day, you won’t. As you’ll see in “Over My Dead Body” by Greg Melville, then you’ll have your real, true Forever Home.
Everybody, they say, needs a hobby and Greg Melville’s just happens to be visiting cemeteries. His family knows that every vacation will be wrapped around gravesites, every chance for a run happens to circle around tombstones. While the family complains, Melville studies the grounds upon which so many rest and he thinks about those who are interred.
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I, Warlock: Cover Reveal for My Upcoming Kindle Vella Exclusive
Stay tuned for links, details and info: I’ll be writing my first Kindle Vella serial, coming very soon. AND it’s under my “other” name, MA McNease. It’s my party, I’ll try if I want to.
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Double Trouble: A Frightfully Good Halloween Giveaway (October 27 – 31)
For 5 days only! From October 27 – 31 you can download A House in the Woods, and Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery, free on Kindle. Treat yourself to a supernatural chiller where fear has a home in the woods, and the first book in the Maggie Dahl mystery series. They’ll keep you up reading till the witching hour.
(The second Maggie Dahl book, Open Secrets, is available now on Amazon, and the upcoming A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due will be out in 2023!)
“Country living is Hell.”
Laurel and Jeremy Calloway have longed for a new life away from the chaos and confusion of New York City. Driving along a country road in New Jersey with a young real estate agent in the back seat, they almost miss it: a small house in the woods for sale. Laurel immediately thinks this could be the house for them, the house of their dreams, where a simpler life awaits. Laurel can finish her debut novel. Jeremy can look for a job in Philadelphia just an hour away. Stopping to take a look at the property, they meet the house’s caretaker, Eileen, and within a few weeks they find themselves the very lucky owners of their ideal home. But who are the mysterious old couple who’d put the house up for sale, having moved out months ago? Is Eileen more than a friendly neighbor? Who are the townspeople they meet, who all seem aware of the young couple now living in the house in the woods? And is it the house of their dreams, or of their nightmares?
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Double Trouble: A Frightfully Good Halloween Giveaway (October 27 – 31)
For 5 days only! From October 27 – 31 you can download A House in the Woods, and Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery, free on Kindle. Treat yourself to a supernatural chiller where fear has a home in the woods, and the first book in the Maggie Dahl mystery series. They’ll keep you up reading till the witching hour.
(The second Maggie Dahl book, Open Secrets, is available now on Amazon, and the upcoming A House in the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due will be out in 2023!)
“Country living is Hell.”
Laurel and Jeremy Calloway have longed for a new life away from the chaos and confusion of New York City. Driving along a country road in New Jersey with a young real estate agent in the back seat, they almost miss it: a small house in the woods for sale. Laurel immediately thinks this could be the house for them, the house of their dreams, where a simpler life awaits. Laurel can finish her debut novel. Jeremy can look for a job in Philadelphia just an hour away. Stopping to take a look at the property, they meet the house’s caretaker, Eileen, and within a few weeks they find themselves the very lucky owners of their ideal home. But who are the mysterious old couple who’d put the house up for sale, having moved out months ago? Is Eileen more than a friendly neighbor? Who are the townspeople they meet, who all seem aware of the young couple now living in the house in the woods? And is it the house of their dreams, or of their nightmares?
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Book Review: Halloween Books for Kids and Adults
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezHalloween Books for Kids and Adults
c.2022, various publishers $16.95-$29.99
various page counts
The leaves are crunchy beneath your feet.
There’s a chill in the air, too, and darkness creeps into the day earlier and earlier. It’s the perfect time to get terrified, isn’t it? These three books will do it to you…
Let’s start with something for everybody over the age of 8 in your haunted house: “Tales to Keep You Up at Night” by Dan Poblocki (Penguin Workshop, $17.99). In it, young Amelia’s grandma has disappeared and it’s natural that Amelia would look for her, right? But grandma’s not in the attic. What is there is a book, one that sure looks like a library book but the library says it’s not. Nope, it’s a book of stories and as Amelia begins to read them, they start to look a lot like real-life, making her wonder exactly what’s merely story and what’s not.
This book is written in chapters that are the perfect length for reading aloud every evening. Start a tradition: turn off the lights, bring a spooky candle, but do it well before bedtime.
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Savvy Senior: Home Sharing: A Growing Trend Among Baby Boomers
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
I saw a news segment on television a few months ago about home sharing programs for seniors and would like to learn more. I’m 68, divorced, and am interested in renting out a room in my house to help make ends meet. What can you tell me?
Interested Boomer
Dear Boomer,
Because of inflation and rising housing costs a growing number of baby boomers are opting to rent out a spare room in their house as a way to generate some extra income, and for some, increase companionship. To find a good fit, older homeowners often turn to “home sharing programs” that will match an empty nester with someone needing affordable housing.
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On Dreamshaping: Mission Accomplished
Mark McNease
I’m on a mission. How many times have we said this to ourselves? How many times have we told it to the people around us? Being on a mission is a way of focusing our attention and energy onto whatever that mission is. For a few people there may be one overriding mission in their lives—to be an actor, a writer, a doctor, the raiser of a family—but for most of us there are multiple missions that change over time. We may be on a mission to earn a degree during our college years, or to succeed without one. We may be on a mission to raise children, or to live our fullest lives without them. We may be on a mission to lose weight, or further our careers, or even to find the kind of inner peace that surrenders missions altogether! That’s a little closer to nirvana than I will likely ever come, so I accept that I have missions. The challenge is finding the best ways to pursue them.
It’s okay to have a goal, to see a particular destination in the distance that we work our way toward. A mission can be as narrow as arranging an event and having it go off to our satisfaction, or as wide and critical as surviving our formative years. I’ll admit I’d been on a mission to get through high school and leave the town I’d grown up in. It was among the most difficult missions of my life, but it is a mission accomplished. I made it. I thrived. I found other, less life-threatening missions to devote myself to.
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A New Me: Soon to Be Writing as MA McNease
Making a book sale at the Frenchtown Bookshop It’s not a gender-neutral thing. It’s not even a pen name, since I’ve always written under my own name, and MA are my initials. Once I finish up the last Marshall James thriller, and the sequel to A House in the Woods, I’ll be using the name MA McNease. No periods. I just feel like some renewal, and I’ve never been fond of the name Mark. (It was Marshall at birth and later changed when I was adopted.) Stay tuned. I may put out A House the the Woods 2: The Devil’s Due, under the new moniker, I’m not sure yet. Just keeping it all interesting for myself. – Mark/MA
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The Twist Podcast #202: Armed and Fabulous, Losing Loretta, Rick’s Flick Picks, and More!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we contemplate gays with guns, mourn the loss of country music legend Loretta Lynn, run down Rick’s flick pics, and scan the headlines for any signs of hope.
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Meet the Author (Me!) at the Frenchtown Bookshop Today
I’ll be bundled up on the porch at the Frenchtown Bookshop (Frenchtown, NJ) later this morning with a stack of my Maggie Dahl Mysteries. Stop and say hello!
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There’s An App for That: DALL.E 2 Lets You Create Images from Text Using AI
Cat with magnifying glass sleuth hat cartoon style. Those are the words I typed into my image creator at DALL.E 2, part of OpenAI.com.
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work—benefits all of humanity.
We will attempt to directly build safe and beneficial AGI, but will also consider our mission fulfilled if our work aids others to achieve this outcome.
DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. It can combine concepts, attributes, and styles.
And I just did this one: fish on a bicycle paiting style. It doesn’t cost anything, either. Try it out!
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There’s An App for That: DALL.E 2 Lets You Create Images from Text Using AI
Cat with magnifying glass sleuth hat cartoon style. Those are the words I typed into my image creator at DALL.E 2, part of OpenAI.com.
OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI)—by which we mean highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work—benefits all of humanity.
We will attempt to directly build safe and beneficial AGI, but will also consider our mission fulfilled if our work aids others to achieve this outcome.
DALL·E 2 can create original, realistic images and art from a text description. It can combine concepts, attributes, and styles.
And I just did this one: fish on a bicycle paiting style. It doesn’t cost anything, either. Try it out!
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Savvy Senior: Auto Aids That Make Driving Easier and Safer
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
Do you know of any car gadgets that can help older drivers? I drive a 12-year-old car and have arthritis in my neck, back and knees which limits my mobility making it more difficult to get in and out of the car and look over my shoulder to backup.
Almost 80
Dear Almost,
To help keep older drivers safe and extend their driving years, there are a number of inexpensive products you can purchase that can easily be added to your vehicle to help with many different needs. Here are some popular auto aids to consider.