Downton Abbey – Season 4 Episode 2

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I’m glad to see:

– Mary emerging from her grief.  And while the new Mary may not be the kinder, gentler Matthew’s Mary, she’s a stronger and more clear-sighted person. Actually, I’ve never been entirely convinced that she softened much under Matthew’s influence. Her response to Edith right after Sybil’s death wasn’t particularly kind, gentle or conciliatory.  But she is taking an active interest in management of the estate and recognizing the need for a new and different approach to preserving it. And she has enough backbone to pull it off.

– Edith with a man who appears to value her as she deserves (or at least I HOPE so!)

– Cora and the girls calling Lord Grantham on his outdated snobbery in regard to the singer.

– Jimmy showing off and getting what he deserves for it.

– Alfred stepping in as cook when Mrs. Patmore has her episode.

Did they have to?

– Have Anna be raped?  Can’t the Bates’s catch any kind of a break?  Are the writers so unimaginative that they can’t find ways to use a HAPPY couple?

– Bring back the conniving Edna?  Why didn’t Mrs. Hughes go directly to Lady Grantham and tell her why hiring that woman wouldn’t be a good idea?  To me that doesn’t seem consistent for Mrs. Hughes. I can’t believe she would hide what she knows, given the potential dangers. And while we’re on the subject– Wasn’t what was implied happened to Branson sort of like rape as well? Especially if he really did drink himself to sleep, as suggested. If the gender roles had been reversed, wouldn’t we call it that?

– Continue to make Lord Grantham look stupid and insanely stubborn?  We know he’s human and makes mistakes, but the constant stream of them don’t seem consistent with him being the man Cora fell in love with and who raised three smart, interesting, and strong-willed daughters. Resisting change is one thing; being totally stupid about it is another.

– Appear to pair Mary with ANOTHER guy who’s already engaged to someone else?  Please let this storyline play out differently this time.

Downton Abbey is Back!

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I’m a happy camper after last night’s Downton Abbey season four premiere.  I’m hoping that this season won’t be quite the sustained downer last season was.  I know they have to keep the drama up and they had to work around characters leaving, but really, the gloom and grief last year was pretty thick.

Anyway, my five favorite moments from last night’s two-hour season opener:

– Lady Mary going to Carson to apologize and admit that she’d reacted badly because she didn’t want to hear what he was saying. Michelle Dockery did a great job of selling the whole change, from the frozen, grief-stricken zombie we see at the beginning of the show to the woman acknowledging and feeling the grief but recognizing that she needs to move on.

– Lord Grantham reminding Branson that Mary has suffered a great tragedy and Branson in turn reminding his father-in-law that he has suffered the same tragedy.

– Cora’s reaction on hearing the nanny’s verbal abuse of baby Sybil.  Of course, that whole episode had the bad effect of leading her to place more trust in Barrow, which is definitely a bad thing.

– Lady Mary entering the room where the tenant’s lunch is going on, in her fabulous purple dress, and proceeding to act like she belonged there.

– And of course, Carson, predictably but still satisfyingly, showing up at the train station for a last conversation with an old friend/enemy.

Worry: The Bates’ are just too nice and too happy.  Something has got to happen.  Since Bates spent most of last season in prison, I figure it’s Anna’s turn and I hate that!

Questions:

– Anna has worked for them for ages.  How on earth does Cora believe she would be giving the new lady’s maid a hard time?  Or that Anna would ruin a favorite piece of clothing and not admit to it?

– How much of Lord Grantham’s sheltering of Mary is genuine concern for her and how much of it is unwillingness to give up control?

– The new lady’s maid completely snows Cora?  How dense is she?

Sneak Peek Sunday

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This post is part of the Sneak Peek Sunday Blog Hop. For a list of other participants, click here.

This week I offer a sneak peak from my romantic suspense novel, A QUESTION OF FIRE.  You can read the first chapter and find buy links for it here.

I’m sharing a few paragraphs from the book that aren’t in the first chapter:

Set up: Our hero and heroine are new acquaintances, meeting for lunch and realizing they have some differences in tastes.

Lowell was quiet while the waitress delivered their plates. “I suppose I owe you the assistance,” he said when the girl had left. “Since it’s my client we’re trying to get off the hook.” He picked up his sandwich, which seemed to consist mostly of lettuce and tomato, and took a bite. He noticed her staring at him. “What’s the matter?”

“What have you got on your sandwich?” she asked.

“Lettuce, tomato, Provolone cheese, mayonnaise, and cucumber. Why?”

“Cucumber?” Cathy had to repress a shiver. “Why aren’t you having a real sandwich? You’re not on a diet, are you?” Lowell was built pretty lean, but he might have to work to stay that way.

“This is a real sandwich,” he said.

“There’s no meat on it. This is a real sandwich.” Cathy held up her roast beef.

He looked at it with distaste. “That’s a pile of cholesterol between two pieces of limp styrofoam.”

“At least it’s edible. Human food.” She pointed at his lunch. “That’s a salad on two pieces of burnt toast.”

Recent contest winners

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Congratulations to the following winners of contests I’ve participated in lately:

Mistletoe Hop Winner: Ashley A; Bonus Winner: Booklady

12 Days of Christmas BookRhythm Style (on Facebook) Winner: Susanne S

Gratitude Giveaway Winner: Deborah

Year 2013 in Review

Karen McCullough Posted on by

The last day of the year is a good time to stop for a few moments and take stock of where I am and where I want to go.

It’s been a pretty good year all things considered. I haven’t done as much new writing as I would like, but it’s been a great year for getting a bunch of backlist titles formatted for ebook publication and put out.  Over the last year I’ve put up a short story (Unmasking), a novella (Guardian of the Grimoire) and two novels, one originally published by Five Star/Gale Group (A Gift for Murder), and one an original work published for the very first time (The Wizard’s Shield).

I’m learning how to use Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest in new ways as well.

On the personal front, the year started off with some struggle for me as my mother passed away late in 2012. It’s taken a while to come to terms with that. Didn’t have a lot of time to brood on it though, since the entire family gathered at our place for Christmas, 2012. We had a wonderful time, and that helped me snap out of the funk of grief. In May, my daughter gave birth to her second son, Cassian James Gerdon. Fortunately he came with a bit less drama than his older brother and was born at 37 weeks, a healthy 7+ pounder. In July my older daughter was married (for the second time) in a lovely low-key ceremony.

I’m always trying to lose weight and this year I actually had some success. I took off five pounds over the year, though I fear the holidays  have put one (or maybe even two) back on me. I’ve been watching what I eat, but mostly the weight loss has come from increasing my walking/exercise time.  I need to do even more of that this year to get rid of those other ten pounds I need to lose.

I do a limited number of events in a year. This year it included Book ’em North Carolina in Lumberton in February, then Stellarcon here in Greensboro in March, and the big one for me, Killer Nashville in August. That was a fantastic conference and I came away from it inspired and energized.

I haven’t had as much reading time this year as I’d like, but have found a few good books, thanks in part to my sister, Barbara. The best book of the year for me was her recommendation, Paulo Coehlo’s The Alchemist.  It’s both enchanting and profound.

Looking ahead

I’m dialing back on the web design/book design business this year to allow more time to devote to writing. I’m not going to quit entirely, but I won’t be taking on as many new clients as I have in the past. I have several things I want to get done. The first priority is finishing Wired for Murder, the sequel to A Gift for Murder.  I have another mostly finished paranormal mystery featuring a witch and a gargoyle. The first draft is pretty much done, but it needs some rewriting and a lot of polishing.  And I have so many other ideas rolling around in my head that I really want to work on.

A Vampire at Christmas

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Christmas Trees. Holiday Music. Sugar Cookies. Glitter and Bows. And Best Of All… the Mistletoe. Romance books enhance our holiday traditions. Who doesn’t love to cuddle under a warm blanket near a fire place on a cold day and read? Hop around with us to celebrate the best romance books of the season.

Read excerpts from some good books. Enter each of the author contests. Tell us what you like to read during the holidays. Find some new-to-you authors to ring in the New Year with.

Vampire_200My Book: A Vampire’s Christmas Carol

Blurb: Can Christmas Eve get any more fun? On her way to her family’s home, Carol Prescott’s car slides into a ditch in a deserted area with no cell phone signal. The only available shelter is already occupied…by a vampire. To Michael Carpenter, Carol is the bait of a trap.

In an effort to hold onto his soul, Michael has resisted the urge to drink human blood for almost a century. Now he hovers between human and vampire. If he doesn’t drink from a human before the night ends, he’ll die. He’s desperately thirsty, but Michael has seen the soulless monsters vampires are and he prefers death. Carol is pure temptation to him, the Christmas present from hell…or is it from heaven?

Amazon Kindle
Nook
Smashwords

You can read an excerpt here, but you might find this fun too. It’s a little effort I did a couple of years ago.  Each year I bring it out and try to refine it, add to it, improve it:

A Visit with the Vampire on Christmas Eve

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through hall
The vampire prepared for his last night of all.
A hundred years gone and the urge to drink blood
He’d struggled against and so far withstood.
With dawn’s early light, his cursed life would end
His soul, however, he’d maintain and defend.
When out on the porch there arose such a clatter
He trudged to the door to see what was the matter
When what to his wondering eyes should appear
But a young woman shivering with cold and fear.
Her face it was pretty, her blood warm and sweet
To him, she was temptation, from her head to her feet.
Forced off the highway and lost on a back road,
With her car in a ditch, she’s alone alone in the cold
Ignoring his warning that his presence meant danger
Carol opted for shelter and passed time with the stranger.
Memories of Christmases long gone they traded
Gifts and feasts and treasures long faded,
And of the terrible night, a century ago,
When a vampire stole his life and his hope.
As he suffered the death throes of blood-hunger pollution,
She struggled to help him and find a solution.
When an enemy dastard showed up to gloat
He tries to make Carol a sacrificial goat.
She’s no willing victim and fights for her life
And to help Michael get through a long night of strife.

Okay, it’s not done, but I continue to work on it.  And I don’t want to give away the ending, but I want to suggest there might be a solution to their problem, though it’s rather ridiculously hard and dangerous.

So… contest!

One lucky commenter will win two ebooks of your choice from all of my books that are available as in ebook format.

And… BONUS!  Anyone can suggest a couple more lines that are in the right scan and rhyming pattern that I decide to use in the poem will win an extra prize!

Below is a list of other participants in the hop, with more chances to win prizes!

Spotting Phishing Emails

Karen McCullough Posted on by

A really good article on how to spot Phishing emails (emails that are trying to lure you into clicking on the link they contain, either to install malicious software on your computer or to get information from you, like the log in information for your bank account or email account):

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-tips-for-spotting-a-phishing-email/?tag=nl.e101&s_cid=e101&ttag=e101&ftag=TRE684d531

I recommend everyone read it!

Gratitude Giveaway

Karen McCullough Posted on by

gratitude-2013-190This post is part of the Gratitude Giveaways Blog Hop sponsored by the I Am A Reader, Not a Writer Blog. Please read to the end for information about how to be eligible for a prize.

Warning: this is going to be an unabashedly sentimental post, in which I list just five of the many, many blessings I’ve been granted.

1. My family – all of them. Three wonderful children, two great sons-in-law and a wonderful daughter-in-law, four superb grandchildren, including the newest, a healthy grandson who arrived in May. Despite the fact that his mother had a pregnancy complicated by pre-eclampsia, Cassian James Deogratias Gerdon was born at 37 weeks, seven pounds eight ounces and quite healthy. Plus there’s another grandchild on the way. And I haven’t even talked about my brothers and sisters, the best group of siblings anyone could      ever ask for.

2. A wonderful husband and forty-four terrific years of marriage. No, it hasn’t always been roses and kittens. We’ve had disagreements and arguments, but we’ve worked through them. We had times when we were so poor we had to decide which bills to pay that month, but we survived that too.

3. Good friends, including some who’ve been part of our lives for more than thirty years and feel as much like family as my real family.

4. Reasonably good health. There are some issues, of course. At my age, there always are. But most of it’s treatable and I generally feel pretty good most of the time. I walk a mile or two most days.

5. The ability to create books, novellas and short stories that have appealed to various editors enough to get published and have been well received by readers.

I’m offering two print books and two ebooks of the winner’s choice from all of the books I have available in those formats. To be eligible, follow me in your favorite social media way: follow this blog by email, “like” my Facebook page, or follow my Twitter feed or Pinterest Boards. You can use the buttons and links to the right to accomplish this. One new follower will be selected to receive the prize.

Six Sentences From Guardian of the Grimoire

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Guardian_125Six sentences from my Gothic novella, Guardian of the Grimoire:

1.. The gargoyle sitting over the library’s main entrance twitched its wings and leaned down to look at her as she rushed up the stairs.

2.That evening, as Jess returned from her dinner break, Carrie looked up from the computer at the main desk and said, “Your boyfriend just came in.”

3 & 4. Other than the visits from the nursing homes and retirement communities, five adults rarely came in at the same time, clearly together. Worse yet, one of them was the Reverend Damon Ryder, the man who’d probably left the sign on the door that morning.

5. “That guy’s trouble,” Carrie said, looking after the Reverend, “But your boyfriend might be, too.”

6. “This isn’t going to be easy to explain, and it’s probably going to be harder for you to believe,” Gabe said.

What I Love About November

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It’s the second week of November, and even here in North Carolina the weather has turned cooler. Here are some of the things I really love about Fall as it progresses toward winter.

1. The change of weather! Summers are long, hot and humid here. Autumn brings crisp, cool air and brilliant blue skies.

2. Getting out the winter clothes.

3. Football – Go Panthers! Go Patriots! Go Duke!  (Amazing that I can say that this year.)

4. Basketball – Go Duke! Love college basketball, don’t care much for the pro game.

5. Beautiful trees, blazing orange, yellow and red, and the sound of leaves crunching underfoot as I walk.

6. Holiday baking. I cook my Halloween pumpkin and use it to make pumpkin bread, muffins and cookies. Plus I start baking Christmas cookies in November and load the freezer with them.

7. Christmas shopping. I do most of it online, but I love shopping for my family for Christmas without the pressure of the last-minute push.

8. Fires in the fireplace.

9. Cleaning up the tired plants from the garden and preparing it for next year.

10. Thanksgiving! The overlooked holiday is one of my favorites. The focus on family, getting together and enjoying each other makes it a wonderful time.