Saturday, April 22, 2017

5 Star Review of CRADLE OF THE SERPENT by author Linda Lee Greene

Customer Review

Loved this read, 22 April 2017
By 
This review is from: Cradle of the Serpent: A Man and a Woman's Imperfect Love (Kindle Edition)
Oh I love it when I come across an engaging story that entertains, written intelligently and with heart. Linda Lee Greene’s "Cradle of the Serpent: A Man and a Woman’s Imperfect Love" hit the mark on all points. What starts out as a very intriguing dedication to a man named Allen: words of love; has me curious about what will unfold as I venture on with the read. Then a quote from Aristotle about bearing composure where the soul shines in challenging circumstances really has heightened my interest. The story begins with mention of an Aesop’s fable; it is a metaphor for being grounded and what happens when one has their head in the clouds and tragedy strikes. The story then begins in lovely poetic prose that Aesop would have applauded: doing laundry, lost keys, and a refreshing encounter. Love enters the pages with words, “the day I made you mine…” and I’m completely invested in what the actual story is about now that it has been so beautifully set up. As I continue on reading, the characters are introduced and developed with clarity and depth: a woman walking a dog, a man named Jacob who helps her, they unite, and then what happens is unexpected and magical. There is much richness and intrigue as the story unfolds and incorporates what at first seem divergent yet rapidly become compelling themes including: therapy, a questionable relationship, fascinating dreams, a mysterious tattoo, a geographical connection to a constellation, mythology, an unexpected meeting, a love triangle, tragedy and a death with twin children impacted. Mystery upon mystery unfolds as we enter a Navajo reservation and witness a fascinating court, involving the children and who has parental rights. The mystery is held right down to the final pages lending to a really great read. There’s so much about this storyline that is captivating and so much I loved about it, including the intelligent way in which it is written—akin to a classic. And when I closed that last page I wanted to talk about it, retell it, urge others to pick it up and read it. But that would spoil it and so I’m compelled to write this review and leave to others the refreshing, compelling, and enjoyable experience and pleasure of reading it for themselves. It is a really great day when I can snuggle up with a great book that leaves no room for anything but wanting to know what the next page will reveal. I got lucky with this one and am thrilled I came upon and purchased it. Thank you Amazon for recommending it.

Thursday, April 20, 2017

Author Uvi Poznansky, the Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards Winner for 2016

I am so pleased to welcome award-winning artist and author Uvi Poznansky on my blog today. Uvi doesn’t know this, but over time I have become so impressed with her work, as well as the way she presents herself and her work in cyber space, that I have adopted her as one of my mentors. In addition, she is to be commended for being such a generous supporter of her fellow authors.

Before we begin, let me offer my sincere congratulations to you, Uvi for winning The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards for 2016.


Uvi Poznansky
Author of
The David Chronicles
and
Still Life with Memories

Name two personal details about yourself that may surprise people?
First, I taught myself to swim breast stroke, so my style is rather unusual to observe, but I do my laps for a whole hour, twice a week.
And second, I cannot sing to save my life, which is just the reason why I adore anyone who can! Perhaps that is why my characters have musical talents. I would like to think that I have a feel for rhythm, which expresses itself in my poetry, but music is more than a beat, it allows you to soar over the notes.
Tell us a little about yourself as writer and as person.

I am an artist, poet, and author. In the last two years I have published several novels, novellas, a poetry book, and two children’s books. My art and my writing are two sides of the same coin: I write with my paintbrush, and paint with words.

I earned my M.A. in Architecture at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and then, taking a sharp turn in my education, earned my M.S. degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan. 

I write across a variety of genres: Literary fiction, historical fiction, historical romance, biblical fiction, poetry, horror, and children’s books. Thanks to the readers who love the romance novels in this boxed set, A Touch of Passion has just become the 2016 WINNER of The Romance Reviews Readers' Choice Awards.

Tell us about your writing history. When was the first time you decided to write and when was the first time you did? 

My creative drive in poetry, storytelling, and art, started early in life. Before I knew how to hold a pen in my hand, I would tell stories that my father (a poet, writer and artist himself) would write down for me. He would also ask me to help him rhyme his lines, which introduced me to the music of words and the intricacies of writing. Just before he passed away, he sent me an entire notebook full of these early endeavors, written in his beautiful, calligraphic handwriting.
Today I strive to stretch the envelope of what I create. In art, I use different mediums, which enriches my designs: I sculpt (in bronze, clay, and paper); I draw in charcoal, ink, and pencils; I paint in watercolor and oils; and I create animations. Similarly, in my literary work I write in different genres, which enriches my thinking.
What are you most proud of in your books?

At the end of every chapter in every book I write, you will discover that having faced a challenge, the character has undergone some change. Taken together, these chapters give you a story of a profound transformation. 

In my series, The David Chronicles, I find it amazing--and I hope you will too--to live in the skin of the character through an entire series of novels, and to experience his life from youth to old age. 

Here is the voice of old David, wary of his son who may overthrow him:

At my age I should expect nothing but respect. But when my own son walks away from me, my resolve immediately falters. To spite me, he smiles flirtatiously at Abishag, my lovely new concubine, till she tightens her robe around her waist and turns her head away, hiding her blush from him, and perhaps from me, too. Then with a youthful vigor, Adoniah bangs the heavy iron door deliberately behind him, which makes Goliath’s sword clang against the wall, right here over my head. 
The rattle shocks me into trying to overcome the fright, the sudden quaking of my bones. 
I adore my son, which lures me into seeing myself—my own image, only more invincible—in him. So what if he is rebellious? I must have been the same way at his age. Back then, did I not leave my father, exchanging the safety of his home for something unknown, for adventure? Did I not defy his charge for me to remain there, in Hebron, and support him in his time of need?

And here, his voice in childhood, coming to the palace for the first time:

I am pushed a step or two backwards, so as to maintain proper distance from the presence of the king. My name is called out in a clunky manner of introduction, after which I am instructed to choose from an array of musical instruments. I figure they must be the loot of war. So when I play them, the music of enemy tribes shall resound here, around the hall.
I pluck the strings of a sitar, then put it back down and pick up a lyre, which I make quiver, quiver with notes of fire! Then I rap, clap, tap, snap my fingers, and just to be cute, play a tune on my flute, after which I do a skip, skip, skip and a back flip.
It is a long performance, and towards the end of it I find myself trying to catch my breath. Alas, my time is up. Even so I would not stop. 
Entranced I go on to recite several of my poems, which I have never done before, for fear of exposing my most intimate, raw emotions, which is a risky thing for a man, and even riskier for a boy my age. Allowing your vulnerability to show takes one thing above all: a special kind of courage. Trust me, it takes balls.

What are you working on now? 

I am working on my next novel in the series Still Life with Memories. The title is Marriage before Death, and it takes my characters, Lenny and Natasha, to France during D-Day and beyond. While the previous novels in the series are love stories, this one is turning into a thriller.

Here is an excerpt:

This being a back road, there were no German patrols, nor were there roadblocks. It was in bad need of repair. Driving over rocks, dirt, and cracks jerked us all back and forth, forth and back, which lolled the SS guards into becoming drowsy. 
Unable to relax into this incessant, repetitive motion, I knew it would not take long until the beret fell off the head of the slumping man, exposing his bruises. I prayed that our captors would fall fast asleep before that happened. Already I could see a drop of blood slipping down his forehead, dripping into his eyebrow, pooling into the socket of his eye.
It was then that he opened it. At first, there was something blind about his look. Did he even see me?
Then, in a snap, his gaze cleared. The traitor pointed a wobbly finger at me, but before he could utter a word—before the SS guards could hear him, let alone clutch their guns and aim them at me—something else happened.
Boom! There came a huge, ear-splitting blast. 
Particles were shooting in the air. Out of nowhere, a wave of heat wrapped around us. In my confusion I forgot to breathe. Instead I gasped, was the truck hit? Was it falling apart under us?

Author Links:

Blog 
 
Google+   

Book Links:

The David Chronicles:
Rise to Power  KindleNookAppleKobo, audio
A Peek at Bathsheba KindleNookAppleKobo, audio
The Edge of Revolt KindleNookAppleKobo

Still Life with Memories:
My Own Voice KindleNookAppleKoboaudio
The White Piano KindleNookAppleKoboaudio
The Music of Us KindleNookAppleKoboaudio
Dancing with Air KindleNookAppleKoboaudio
Marriage before Death Coming soon...


Friday, April 14, 2017

POEM OF THE DAY: "Resurrection" by Linda Lee Greene

To me, this is the metaphysical meaning of Easter:

Resurrection

I hear the rock being pushed away from the tomb.
People are grunting and straining with the effort.
The light will be here soon.
I crouch further back into a deep dark corner of my second womb:
this lifetime in whose years my tomb is hewn.
I throw my hands to my ears against the noise.
Is that popping and crunching beneath the weight of the rock the grinding of the bones of my weaker selves?
Is that screaming the last gasps of my shadow parts I’m leaving behind?
When the light finds me will I let it burn away my remaining grime?
Will I let it polish me?
Will I let it let me shine?
©Linda Lee Greene - December 9, 2007
Linda Lee Greene's latest novel is a story of resurrection of a deeply wounded woman, titled CRADLE OF THE SERPENT,

Linda Lee Greene is the best-selling author of the novel of literary fiction CRADLE OF THE SERPENT goo.gl/i3UkAV, the novella for young readers ROOSTER TALE goo.gl/vNq32g, the true-life novel GUARDIANS AND OTHER ANGELS http://goo.gl/imUwKO, and the co-author with Debra Shiveley Welch of the suspense novel JESUS GANDHI OMA MAE ADAMS http://amzn.to/VazHFG. Her artwork is on view at www.gallery-llgreene.com. Linda’s Twitter handle is @LLGreeneAuthor. Her Amazon Author’s Page is at https://www.amazon.com/author/lindaleegreene, and follow her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/#!/LindaLeeGreeneAuthor, as well as on her Goodreads page at http://www.goodreads.com/LindaLeeGreeneAuthor

Thursday, April 13, 2017

POEM OF THE DAY by Linda Lee Greene

Our Little Round Table

We had a little round table in the corner of our kitchen,
With three chairs and a high chair:
His, mine, our young son’s, and our baby daughter’s.
My husband and I sat across from each other,
Our feet bare and entwined beneath the table.
I buttered his bread – refreshed his glass – and never thought behind or beyond the hour.

It was an inexpensive, wooden table,
The only one at the time we could afford.
Its top was of wood-grained plastic.
Our son sat at it and wrote his school-words,
And I drew my pictures.
My husband balanced our checkbook and paid our bills there, as well.
It was a multi-purpose table.

That table didn’t go with us when we moved away.
A long and costly rectangular table took its place,
And beneath it, my husband and I couldn’t reach each other’s feet anymore,
And eventually each other’s mind,
And finally each other’s heart.
We should have kept our little round table.

©Linda Lee Greene ~ 2013


“Cradle of the Serpent” is Linda Lee Greene’s latest novel is at goo.gl/i3UkAV 

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

CRADLE OF THE SERPENT, the new novel by best-selling author Linda Lee Greene


A fire glow in the clear and silent night sky points to the rim of the star-wound where I was born, and in my mind’s eye I transform into an archaeologist whose job it is to unearth the secrets of the early Indian civilization, the “Fort Ancient” American Indians, the bits and pieces of their lives contained within the great mound of the serpent lying there in the cradle of the debris of that long ago meteor strike. With the delicate tools of the trade in hand, I imagine myself beginning to dig. Will I find her? I wonder. Will I find that other woman, that Indian woman whom, like me, was born on the rim of this star-wound? Among arrow heads and shards of pottery, I imagine I find a small bone: a section of one of her fingers, then remnants of her jawbone lying beside a rock that reveals itself to be a pillow for her head. A group of four small and nearly matching stones fairly tumble into my hand when my trowel scrapes away a knot of finger roots of a tree. Each of the stones is punctured with a little hole at its center, the jewelry for her necklace, I realize. Yes, four stones: the sacred number of those early people—the number four symbolizing the four directions of the world—the four seasons. I declare kinship with that Indian woman, and in that new sisterhood, I feel buoyant and lifted, taken above and beyond this material world as our joined spirits float on the silver mist blanketing the panorama before me....
The above excerpt of the final pages of my novel GUARDIANS AND OTHER ANGELS (http://goo.gl/imUwKO), published in 2012, and re-released in 2015, laid the groundwork for my current novel CRADLE OF THE SERPENT (goo.gl/i3UkAV),  a story whose protagonist is a contemporary North American archaeologist named Lily Light. Her work centers on the mounds of the Ohio Valley, with special emphasis on the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio, USA. It is an endeavor that sets my archaeologist on a remarkable journey through time to the prehistoric period of the American Indian architects of the mysterious serpent effigy, and specifically to White Flower, the young woman to whom I refer in the earlier novel. To this indigenous culture, the mound is not only a critical component of everyday life, but also a link to the stars, which they believe to be their pathway to immortality. 
CRADLE OF THE SERPENT is written in the voices of Lily Light and her psychotherapist Michael Neeson. A patient of Michael’s, Lily’s therapy is based on her estrangement from her husband Jacob, also an archaeologist at work on a project in Arizona. Early in Lily’s therapy, Jacob is injured in a violent shooting at the edge of the Navajo Reservation there, and is left permanently paralyzed from his shoulders down. Lily also learns that a woman murdered at the scene of the crime was Jacob’s mistress.
During several of Lily’s therapy sessions with Michael, Lily experiences dreamstates or time-travels in which she takes on the bearing of White Flower, and through the process, finds her way to the other side of her shattered life wrought by Jacob’s infidelity and its numerous catastrophic consequences.

I wrote the initial version of GUARDIANS AND OTHER ANGELS when it was still generally accepted that the Great Serpent Mound was constructed by the Fort Ancient people. The current analysis, based on radiocarbon dating conducted in 2011 and made public in 2014, is that the mound was built by indigenous people of the Adena civilization about 1,400 years earlier than previously thought, making it as old as Aristotle of Greece.