Maple Valley Writers and FreeValley Publishing authors will be hosting a booth at Norwescon in the lobby.
Rachel Barnard and her work Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams will be promoted at this event.
You can talk to her in person Saturday during the event.
What is Norwescon?
The Pacific Northwest’s premier Fantasy and Science Fiction convention.
For more information on Norwescon: norwescon.org
As an author, poet and geocacher in the process of searching for a device that does everything I want it to do is difficult.
I want a device:
So basically I want a phone/tablet/e-reader all in one
Also: It would be awesome if I could hook it up to an external monitor…
According to PC Encyclopedia, a phablet is: “A smartphone with a 5″ to 6″ screen. With a display larger than traditional smartphones, a phablet offers a better visual experience for viewing Web pages but can be bulky in an small shirt or pants pocket.”
I think 5″ to 6″ might be too small for use and too big for a pocket.
Here’s a cool comparison website I found: http://tablets-review.toptenreviews.com/
What do you use and why? Do you use it as an author, reader, employee, researcher, etc? Can your device do it all?
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| Of Ducks and Writing |
Selling Events: Money spent to purchase copies to sell at events and specific event fees
Book Creation: Proof copy costs and professional cover design costs
Author Resources: Memberships, workshops, and conferences
Author Platform: Domain registration and marketing materials such as business cards
Materials: Stamps and envelopes to send out manuscripts
*Estimated money recovered from sales: %37 of cost*
Gaston Glew is a pickle and Fanny W. Fod is a pancake. From the very beginning, the reader can tell this book will be bizarre. This story was everything I have and have not imagined about pickles and pancakes. The writing style was curt and to the point and the author spared no details when it came to sticky subjects such as suicide, death, murder, and sex but he did provide a strange perspective: that of a pickle. This pickle was not just any pickle. It was a sad pickle. Did the author choose a phallic vegetable on purpose? Pickles do come with their own associations and prejudices.
As I read the story, I felt like I could smell and taste the sickly sweetness of the maple syrup and the briny sourness of the pickled pancakes and it totally grossed me out! Cameron Pierce effectively captured all my senses in relation to pickles and pancakes, unusual subjects. Pierce has imagined every nook and cranny of these two subjects and then mashed them together in an uncommon storyline that is so bizarre I don’t know what to think. Pierce was able to capture a different perspective with his edible characters, translating death, sadness, and happiness into tangible shaped concepts.
The plot was straightforward, to find Happiness (as a pickle) but the plot seemed wandering and mildly purposeless. I thought the story got a little chatty with the author’s own musings on the subjects of happiness and sadness with too much emphasis placed on the characters’ thoughts and feelings. However, Pierce wrote a wonderfully imaginative story about what could and would happen if pickles and pancakes were alive in a world where unequivocal certainties are not complete realities on Pancake Island.
Pierce’s writing style reminded me of the curiosity of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry mixed with the emotional wanderings of The Missing Piece Meets the Big O by Shel Silverstein.
Would I recommend this book?
This book is different. If you are not willing to read something bizarre, then I would not recommend this book. Also, the detailed sex scene might be overwhelming for certain readers (even when it’s between two made-up characters: a pickle and a pancake). I enjoyed the book, it gave me some ideas for my own unusual fiction. Also, the author is highly imaginative and I appreciated reading the book just for the odd tidbits of imagination.
Local Author Re-releases Debut Young Adult Novel
Seattle, Washington, March 25 – Rachel Barnard, a driven young author in the Seattle area, released the new version of her debut novel, Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams. The novel is version four, according to the Amazon version counter, and features a stunning new cover from Dodo’s Design as well as improvements within the front and back covers. The novel is available in both print and eBook formats on Amazon and Createspace.
Barnard wrote her debut novel after graduating from New College of Florida and has not stopped improving the novel since. She released the first version in 2012 but decided that she wanted a more vivid and professional cover. She has been working for months to solidify both interior and exterior of her book and has now released the updated and final version.
Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams follows MC three years after she has infiltrated one of many elite academies across the U.S. The government has created these academies in order to train the youth for high end government positions in order to take over the world. MC must rise to the top in the Cube training grounds in order to be placed high up within the government so she can stop them in their takeover. It is not until her fourth and final year at the academy that her top-student status is threatened by the sudden arrival of Li, the new transfer student. MC is completely focused on her self-created mission until she gets sidetracked by Li, who might be bad news in more ways than which she bargained.
“Rachel is a writer with a strong head on her shoulders. This is evidenced by her presentation of the main character. MC has a purpose, that’s at odds with her school life. She doesn’t need friends, sneers at getting a crush on a guy, and is willing to vanquish her enemies. Travel with her as she explores the underside of the school, finds her hiding places and learns strategy while fighting with the other students at the Cube,” says Victoria Bastedo.
Rachel Barnard released a book of poetry, Wandering Imagination, early this year that is also available on Amazon in print and eBook format. For more information on either the author or Ataxia and the Ravine of Lost Dreams, you can visit her website at www.rachelauthorbarnard.com
When is it officially spring in WA?
When the baby animals begin to appear?
When tree leaves thicken and buds show?
When you see people wearing shorts?
When it’s time to mow the lawn?
I bet you can guess that it is to lose weight.
I believe that the body has an ideal weight and when you are in that ideal weight zone, it is easier to stay at that weight. I also believe there is a comfort weight level your body can reach above that ideal weight zone and it is really difficult to get under that comfort weight level.
Most everyone is obsessed with their weight for one because it is an easily attained statistic. Step on a scale and boom. There it is. But there are other measures of health. Such as body fat percentage. According to the internet, my source of almost all knowledge these days, says that a fit percentage of fat content is 21-24% for women and 14-17% for men. An average percentage of fat content is 25-31% for women and 18-24% for men. Where do you fit?
Dearest blog readers,
This blog post is coming to you from a new blog host. You may notice that the blog has been completely revamped (changed). I’m excited to say that the transfer from blogger to wordpress was not entirely too difficult. The worst part is attempting to redirect from rachel-barnard.blogspot.com to rachelauthorbarnard.com, which I have not figured out yet how to do. Any suggestions?
This change comes in part from the wonderfully informative workshop by Casz Brewster from SnoValley Writes in which I learned that my author platform was not quite up to par. More changes, hence, are on the way!
Also, I’m working on publishing the updated/revised version of Ataxia soon (you may notice the new cover already posted here). Thanks to Dodo’s Design for the wonderful book cover. Bravo and well done.
Sincerely,
Rachel Barnard
Rachel Author Barnard 