It’s Friday, the weekend is here. Everybody is in a hurry, everybody is ready to get this day over with. Snapping at people and treating other people rudely just has a terrible snowball effect. You have the opportunity to be the light in someone’s day, don’t let obnoxious people drag you down. A smile or a kind word can be enough to brighten up someone’s day, let your positive energy flow! 🙂
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Olympic Gold Medalists on DWTS
Excitement is building for the “Dancing With the Stars” premiere on Monday. Olympic gold Medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White will be competing against each other in the most compelling showdown in the show’s history. Meryl will be teamed up with returning cast member Maksim Chmerkovskiy while Charlie has been paired with Sharna Burgess. Our author and reporter Jean Marie Stanberry will be getting the inside scoop for us, so stay tuned for exclusive insight and photos.
Meet the Authors
This is our second post about our wonderfully talented authors. Our newest Author Lyoness Bradley, grew up a mere 5 miles from our first featured author Jean Marie Stanberry, but remarkably, the two didn’t know each other.
Lyoness contacted Jean after reading her Bio on Amazon’s website, after she read Jean’s book “Laying Low In Hollywood”. “It was weird, says Lyoness, our lives were so similar, we may have even crossed paths in the past, but fate never truly brought us together.”
Lyoness Bradley grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri. She admits she had a very privileged upbringing, in fact, her father was the principal of at her private high school, which Lyoness says, pretty much ruined her high school years.
Lyoness wanted to write a book to help young girls to spread their wings. Lyoness said her own parents were very controlling, she didn’t get much of a chance to think with her own mind until she went away to college.
“An Imperfect World” is the story of her journey from a blatantly manipulated teenager, to a woman who finally feels free to follow her heart. In high school in 1979, Lyoness fell in love with another student, who was black. Her parents forbid her to see him at all and even threatened his life. Lyoness, fearing for his life, broke off the relationship and eventually married a family friend. Though she grew to love her husband, she never forgot about her first love. “An Imperfect World” is a fictitious account of her love affair.
Today Lyoness is an accomplished lawyer and enjoys writing and traveling. She penned her most recent novel while on a transatlantic cruise to Portugal. Lyoness will soon release her newest novel “One Small Bite” it is in the final editing stages and is due for release in late April or May.
Meet the Authors
At Kingsmuir Press we are very fortunate to have some of the greatest talents in the world working for us. Today we would like you to meet one of our newest authors Jean Marie Stanberry, author of “Laying Low in Hollywood”, “One World United”, “The Illusion of Order” and coming soon, “Blood, Sweat and Fears. First, how about a little quiz?
Before she started writing for us she:
A. Owned her own Old Time photo Studio
B. Was a professional figure skater
C. Was engaged to a British nobleman
D. All of the above
If you guessed all of the above, you are absolutely correct! Jean is definitely one of those people who has tried just about everything, at least once. As a child she loved reading, writing, dance and gymnastics, but she was a natural figure skater. Jean skated both competitively and professionally as a pairs skater with her longtime partner Jack Adams, most notably with Europe’s “Holiday on Ice”.
When her skating career was cut short by a life altering car accident that took the life of her fiancee Marc and left Jean fighting for her own life, she was told she would never skate again. Jean struggled to overcome her multiple injuries and start over. Jean traveled to Scotland and took classes at St. Andrews University, writing short stories and articles for their quarterly review. After a much publicized, failed engagement to English nobel Christian Arthur Hadringham, she returned to the states and graduated with her Bachelors Degree in Business from Southern Illinois University.
After working a number of years in Finance, she returned to college to pursue a degree in nursing, eventually getting her BSN from Webster University in St. Louis. After working in a wide variety of nursing positions Jean has settled in the surgery department where she has been working the last nine years.
Jean never got to return to competitive skating but did go on to function as a coach, judge and choreographer for multiple venues including “Holiday on Ice” and “Disney on Ice”. Jean has been married to her husband Gary for nearly twenty four years and they have two grown children, Ryan and Lauren. Jean’s entire family is as adventure orientated as she is, the entire family worked at their old time photo business in historic Kimmswick, Missouri and they have traveled extensively. Their biggest adventure by far was moving the entire family cross country from Missouri to Montana.
Since they moved to Montana the family has been enjoying the benefits of a slower paced life. They have also made strides to become more self sufficient and lead healthier lifestyles. Jean is proud that both her grown children have embraced the healthy lifestyle, staying active, avoiding processed foods and eating more fruits and vegetables. Jean is also proud of her garden and orchard which fills her pantry and freezer for the winter months. She is also planning a new project this spring which will hopefully only improve her garden, bee keeping. We will keep you up to date how this works out. You can find out more about Jean and all her projects past and present at jeanstanberry.com or follow her on twitter @jeanstanberry
Blood, Sweat and Fears
Coming soon, the book that was originally intended to be the first in the “Heart of a Phoenix” series. This book was so controversial, it made our lawyers very nervous. Luckily, they are over it, so once the editors have given their final blessing, it will be available in paperback and on all major e-readers. This book is the prequel to “The Illusion of Order”, so if you haven’t read it yet, this is your chance to read them in their logical order.
“Blood, Sweat and Fears is a gripping drama about an Olympic gold medalist from the Soviet Union who is desperate to defect to the US and begin a new life. When he lands a position skating in Europe’s most famous ice show, he thinks he’s just gotten his lucky break.
Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned, and as his plans crumble, he becomes involved in a desperate battle of wills with a fellow cast member. Will his manipulation tactics work, or will his desperation lead to his own destruction?
To learn more about this book you can go to our author’s website at jeanstanberry.com and check out her coming soon page. This is book is a wild ride, can you handle it?
Like Vampires?
Coming soon, Lyoness Bradley’s newest book “One Small Bite” will be hitting shelves and e-readers hopefully in early April. Pemberthy Parker has a legacy to fulfill, a legacy as Queen. Bitten by her betrothed as a child and marked for greatness, Pem can barely wait for her big day. When she shows up in the castle two years ahead of schedule, not everyone is happy. Nobody does vampires like Lyoness Bradley, especially when the vampires are lustful, jealous and vengeful.
Bad Drivers That Don’t Know They’re Bad Drivers
As a kid in the sixties my mother didn’t drive and my dad worked during the day, so as a result, my Grandfather drove us everywhere. I loved my Grandfather, he was a really great guy, unfortunately, driving wasn’t one of his better skills. It was also the only time he cursed, which by today’s standards would be relatively tame. He’d yell, “Look at that damn Jackass!” As he ran the poor fellow off the road. My Grandma would try to cover my ears, but it was always too late, so Jackass became a word in my early vocabulary that I used pretty indiscriminately, much to my family’s dismay. But that’s another story completely.
I really don’t think my Grandfather knew he was a bad driver, he just was a little confused as to who had the right of way. It was usually him, at least in his mind. Since it was the sixties only the busiest intersections had traffic lights and most railroad crossing just had a flashing light to warn you of an approaching train, the merest suggestion to stop in my grandfather’s eyes. He also hated any suggestions from non drivers, like my grandmother or my mother.
“John don’t go, the train is right there!” was often met with. “Don’t be a damn backseat driver.” Then he’d go, with all us in the car praying frantically for our lives. Yep, too many close calls to even count. I’m just saying, I lived through many cringe worthy moments as a child, and as a result, I’ve never really cared for railroad crossings.
Things were different in the sixties. I imagine he had car insurance, I was too young to worry about those sorts of things. I just don’t remember hearing any mention of it. He probably hit someone at least every other week, but it was never a big deal. The two parties would get out, inspect the damage, (usually it was very minimal) they would both offer the other apologies and go on their way. Cars were built like tanks back then, so my grandfather would go home, buff the other guy’s paint off his bumper and pretend it never happened. Sometimes he would grumble for a couple of days about how stupid the other guy was, for not paying attention or something like that. It seems like a totally different world now.
My Grandfather died in the mid 1970’s and I have missed him ever since. I don’t know how he would feel about what our world has become. I feel safe in saying that he probably wouldn’t have set foot on a modern day interstate where the speed limit can be over 70 miles an hour. Though he had grown up in the country, he had lived his entire adult life in the city and he was used to city driving. I don’t think I ever saw him drive over 55 miles an hour. He usually drove under the speed limit, which was good, since he tended to not yield to the person who had the right of way.
In this day and age I fear my Grandfather would not be able to afford the insurance premiums of his accident prone lifestyle. I hope that on the roads there in heaven, my Grandpa always has the green light.
By guest blogger Jean Marie Stanberry, author of “Laying Low in Hollywood”, “One World United” and her newest book, “The Illusion of Order”.
An Imperfect World
Check out this book by our newest author Lyoness Bradley. She’s so new, she doesn’t have her own website yet , but “An Imperfect World” is available on all digital e-readers. It’s the ultimate coming of age story, set in late 1970’s St. Louis, during a period of court ordered school desegregation.
Leigh Webster can’t imagine how bringing 40 intercity students into her slightly upscale school could be a big deal. She learns quickly that the people she knows and loves aren’t really open minded or accepting.
The Family Sing Along
I come from a long line of casual singers. We sing in the shower, in the car, wherever, just not in front of audiences. That would be more like a comedy routine. Not only do we lack singing talent, we are usually completely clueless as to what the correct words are. My brother started the tradition by coming up with his own special take on the song “Don’t you want me baby” by the Human League. He thought they were singing “Don’t chew on me baby.” I like his version of the song so much, I really can’t sing it the right way anymore. It just seems like it’s more fun to sing it with the wrong lyrics.
As a child, my son soon followed suit. He heard the song “Take a chance on me” by ABBA and though the lyrics were saying “Jackie Chan’s on me” That one had me laughing for days. If you love quirky things like this, there is a whole website dedicated to the musically challenged person. The site is kissthisguy.com which is definitely worth a look if your family is like mine and likes to sing, but is not gifted in getting the words right.
Guest blogger Jean Marie Stanberry is author of “Laying Low In Hollywood”, “One World United” and “The Illusion of Order”. To see what Jean has planned next you can visit her at jeanstanberry.com or on twitter @jeanstanberry
Coffee. How do I love thee, let me count the ways
Everybody gets stuck in a morning routine sometimes. I get up, take a shower and dress, then I like to make some coffee, sit at my computer and catch up with emails and maybe write a little before I have to go to my job in surgery. This morning was no different, or so I thought.
I went through my normal routine, showered, fed the dog and set about making the coffee. Everything seemed okay till I realized the little red light on the coffee pot wasn’t working and it wasn’t making any noise, not good! Then I thought, maybe just one cup from the Keurig, sure that would be fine. Hmmm, that didn’t seem to be working either. Then it occurred to me that there was something wrong with the power outlets in the kitchen. With that in mind I dragged the coffee maker into the guest bathroom and finally got my coffee.
After I had finally drank my first cup and my brain began to function again I had a thought…the GFCI. Yep, all I had to do was push the stupid little button on the outlet and all my kitchen outlets were once again functioning normally. What would I do without my favorite little miracle beverage to help me start my day?
By Guest Blogger-Author Jean Marie Stanberry, Author of “Laying Low In Hollywood”, “One World United” and “The Illusion of Order”. jeanstanberry.com @jeanstanberry
Kingsmuir Press-Great Novels, great authors 