Wild Foods and Foraging

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

It’s all rainy days, low slung clouds, and rain on tin-roofs around the Gunnison Valley these days—a much needed, thirst-quenching storm has arrived and settled in. A perfect excuse for warm coffee, bouquets of flowers on the table, and a book, of course.

It’s also a great time to get well-versed in the foraging dos and don’ts. There is plenty to learn in the way of safety, sustainability, legalities, terms, and botany in the world of foraging, and its best to have at least a cursory grasp on these things before heading out, wicker basket and clippers in hand.

Today, a word on foraging safety, considerations, and a note on common poisonous plants to the mountain states. All of which, can be found in Briana’s new book Mountain States Foraging, a guidebook to wild edibles in the mountain west.

Foraging for Briana has been a lifeline to a wild…

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A Bridge Of Shadow ~ An Anthology

By Natalie J. Case

Recently we finished up our second Creativia anthology. Like the first one, all of the writers started with the same prompt, and had about four months to write. This time around, their prompt was “The letter/email/missive/message was ominous, if a little vague in the details. “Midnight, on the bridge. Come alone.””

The finished product is an unusual mix of genres and subjects. Each writer really set off on their own path from the prompt. As usual, they are give a fair bit of leeway in interpreting the prompt as long as they kept the heart of it the same.

As a result, you’ll find colonial America, Victorian London and fantasy worlds alike. There are love stories, cautionary tales, and fantasy. You will find paranormal creatures like wendigos, vampires, Shades, sentient shadows or talking animals.

The six authors represented here took our prompt and each of them headed off in a different direction, and that right there is half the reason I do it! I love the way creative minds work, and it is a thrill getting to edit (and contribute) to this collection.

Now available on Amazon in kindle and paperback formats, get your copy of A Bridge of Shadow today!

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Sylum Advent 2017: December 29th ~ Sylum Teasers & Snippets

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Title: Waiting For Me To Catch Up
Characters/Pairings: Jeremiah Parks/Ray Kowalski; Benoit Franciscus; Ray Vecchio; Peter Parker; Original Characters; Members of Tallikut Clan
Rating: PG
Summary: When Jeremiah Parks returned to the city of his birth, his life was in such turmoil that he failed to realize the most important thing in the middle of all the chaos. Now he has to learn to open his life to someone new.

~ Chicago, Illinois, February 2005 ~

Sitting with his chin resting on his fist, Jeremiah Parks watched the snow beginning to accumulate on the branches outside his office window. An email from his Operations Manager containing the year end numbers on his clubs had put him in a contemplative mood. The numbers were remarkable considering he’d bought and remodeled one property, and sold one. If the next six months continued the same way, it might be time to think about the best city for this year’s club. He was sure something would drop him a clue.

Reaching for his coffee cup, the light flashed off the diamonds and sapphires embedded in the wide platinum band on his left hand. A soft smile lightened his mood thinking about all that happened in the past seven years, including a trip to Massachusetts two weeks ago. He’d have to talk with his Mate about where he wanted to take a honeymoon trip, or maybe he should make the trip a surprise.

Continue reading “Sylum Advent 2017: December 29th ~ Sylum Teasers & Snippets” →

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Sylum Advent 2017: December 19th ~ A Scribe’s Tale: Queen Mousette

By Paula Cas

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Title: A Scribe’s Tale – Queen Moussette
Author: Paula Cas
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Queen Moussette; Dilios/Robert Muldoon; Nicolaus Meridius/Warrick Calhoun; Shepsit Hemet Amun-Ra/Nefertiri; Clarissa Barton; Original Characters; Members of Sylum Clan, Tallikut and Vampire Council
Summary: With so many new Vampires in the Clans, it’s almost impossible for a simple scribe to keep up with all their stories. On a trip to New Orleans, Dilios looks forward to spending time with his Mate in beautiful New Orleans, but what else might a member of the Vampire Council learn in the city of magic and mystery.
Author’s Note: A huge THANK YOU to BJ Jones for allowing me to play in her ‘verse over at Sylum Clan. Love this ‘verse she created when a beloved character was ‘killed’. The Sylum ‘verse at: Sylum Clan Wiki. You can find all the fantastic stories at: Sylum Clan Manor Archive. THANK YOU to Taibhrigh for the terrific banner art for my Sylum stories.
Artist: Taibhrigh

~ Geneva Aeroport, Geneva, Switzerland, January 2016 ~

Dilios shifted his messenger bag to a more comfortable position after handing off his and Robert’s luggage to the flight crew. The self-appointed scribe to the Vampire population, had been thrilled when the Leaders of the Ghost and Darkness Clan had spent the holidays in Geneva. The South African Vampires might complain about the cold, but it simply didn’t seem like the holidays without snow. Lending half an ear to his Mate’s grumbling, he smiled as they climbed the steps of the Council’s jet.

“’Bout time we’re heading someplace where I’m not covered in layers so thick you won’t see skin ‘til midsummer. At least I can wear proper short pants until you nag all the Vampires in New Orleans into running us out of the States.” Muldoon continued until they were settled in their seats for take-off.

“The stories are much better when they come from the people involved. History is much richer if you can see and feel the emotions of the main players.” Dilios dropped his voice to a whisper. “It is what you asked of me, My King.” He felt love along with a rush of lust across their Bond.

“You have been even faithful to that request.” He growled. To distract himself from the desire to drag his Mate to the floor, and Claim him, regardless of Jason and the crew, Robert changed the subject. “Tell me about your latest victim.”

Hearing chuckles from the cabin, Dilios gave Bourne his fiercest glare. “I’ll be hearing from you and your cretin of a Mate, when I get back. I just know there are adventures you haven’t shared.” The chuckles tuned to groans as Jason went looking for other things that needed his attention.

After a quick stop in Lisbon to refuel, the passengers settled down to get some sleep in preparation for an afternoon landing in New Orleans.

~~}~~

It’s Published!

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Here it is, my first collection of recipes, coming out to a Kindle near you on Saturday, December 16, available for pre-order right now!

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=kool+kosher+kitchen

Click and get it – I can’t think of a better holiday gift for your beloved friends and family members!

Paperback soon to follow.

Thank you for your unwavering support, Beautiful People, and Happy Holidays to all!

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Why We Write

Time For A Giveaway!

By Natalie J. Case

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I asked myself this morning what it was I wanted to do today. Aside from the obvious answer (writing), I heard myself say “let’s give away some books!”

I thought that was an amazing idea! So, let’s do that! Contest opens tomorrow, runs through November 15th. Prize package will include, at minimum, one copy each of Through Shade and Shadow and In Gathering Shade. There will be other goodies thrown in there too to make things fun. I won’t tell you exactly what the prize package includes, but it should suit most any reader.

Click the link below to enter.
Count me in!

And now I head back into the third installment in the series!

in search of …

By Natalie J. Case

Are you a book reviewer? A reader who loves books? I’m looking for folks who will provide honest reviews of my books. I can provide electronic ARCs if you are a book blogger or reviewer.

forever-complete_tcc-readers-favorite

I know my work isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but if you’re interested in vampire stories that go beyond the modern teenage love story, you might enjoy Forever, the story of Amara: born to a vampire mother and raised in a clan of killers, Amara finds herself at odds with her family and drawn toward the world of man.

Once Upon a Broken Dream is an anthology of short stories that all emerged from a single prompt. Two of my own stories are in there and I edited the overall anthology. The stories cover a broad spectrum of genres. My two offerings are an introduction to a sci-fi story I hope to introduce next year, Jericho Jordan and a fairy-tale fantasy called Red-Belly about a world once governed by dragons.

Through Shade and Shadow

Through Shade and Shadow is the opening salvo in a series filled with danger, secret government agencies, psychics, healers and shape-shifters and a world on the brink of war. Meet Mason Jerah, a Shade, who we meet as his world dies, goes from a backwoods, sheltered boy to government agent at the focal point of the coming civil war and Alaric Lambrecht, a Shadow who just wants to keep his people safe. When they finally come together, it could signal the beginning of the end.

In-Gathering-Shade-Main-File In Gathering Shade picks up where Through Shade and Shadow left off, joining Mason and Alaric on a daring escape and meeting a few new players. Raven Ivany is a government agent, working for the same agency as Mason. She too is a Shade, and while investigating what seems to be a Shade serial killer, she happens across Zero, a teenager with the abilities of a Sage and a Shadow, together with Evan Chayton, they find themselves caught up in the machinations of a Shadow who has been manipulating things from behind the scenes.

Anyone interested in reviewing any of these, please reach out to me at natalie@nataliejcase.com.

introducing Zero and a cover reveal

By Natalie J. Case

I meant to introduce you all to Zero last week, but I completely spaced it. I’ll blame it on the combination of pain and pain meds. So today, I want to do that, but yesterday my publisher emailed me with the cover for In Gathering Shade, and as an added bonus, he included the re-designed cover for Through Shade and Shadow.

Through Shade and Shadow It’s gorgeous, don’t you think? I’m in love with it!

Okay, let’s talk about Zero. I started writing Zero’s character originally thinking she was the start of something new. Then I discovered that she was a part of Shades and Shadows.

We first meet her as a prisoner of sorts, the subject of some mysterious experimentation. Zero is sixteen, the daughter of a Chinese Sage who was seduced and eventually controlled by an American Shadow with questionable ambitions.

Zero is something of an escape artist, an adept thief, and particularly good with glamors. She doesn’t trust easily, so when she throws in with Raven and Evan she’s also got one foot out the door, and her eye on all the exits.

Even she doesn’t fully know what the experiments did to her, but she knows she doesn’t want to wait to find out. She has seen first hand what the man behind her captivity could do to the minds of others and she’s scared that he might have done the same to her.

Zero is both Sage and Shadow, and no one knows the full extent of what she can do. In many ways, Zero is a broken glass held together with duct tape.

I know, I know…what you really want is to see the cover for In Gathering Shade, right?

With no further ado…This cover is beautiful! I can’t stop staring at the two of them together!