Tristi Pinkston and the Festival of Trees

Author Tristi Pinkston

It started almost a year ago.  A friend of mine, Tristi Pinkston who  is both a talented writer and a great person, was with her family, visiting The Festival of Trees, which contributes all its proceeds to Primary Children's Hospital.  While there, she was hit with the desire to do something with her own talents to help out.  But what to do? she wondered.  Then it came to her.  She knows how to write, and how to edit, and she could get a group of writers to write uplifting, hopeful Christmas stories, compile them into a book, and then sell copies at the Festival of Trees, with all of the proceeds going to Primary Children's.  That was when she started her project, contacting authors she knew, and asking if any would help to contribute.  Many of us eagerly jumped on board, and wrote short Christmas stories, poems, and songs, all for this fantastic idea that Tristi came up with.  Over the course of the year, we've polished the stories, with Tristi's and others' help, and despite some unforseen things, and a lot of hard work on Tristi's part, there are books now ready to sell at the Festival.  All the proceeds will go to Primary Children's Hospital.  If you have the chance, and if you live in Utah, I hope you are able to visit The Festival of Trees.  It is a wonderful cause, and will help so many people if you can contribute.  And while you're there ask about The Hope of Christmas: Finding Joy in the Season... which contains many uplifting stories by authors like J. Lloyd Morgan, Jaclyn Weist, Michael D. Young, and others, including a story I wrote, called The Christmas Sparrows.  If you're so inclined, pick up a copy for yourself.  Or get one for someone else!  And remember that you're helping out a great cause.

Wasatch Elementary in Ogden

I had a great experience today, when I had the opportunity to visit a fantastic bunch of students and teachers!  The teachers, staff, and students of Wasatch Elementary in Ogden were very welcoming, and I appreciated the opportunity to talk to them about the basics of story writing, why we enjoy stories, and what the main parts of a story are.  The students were all wonderful!  I really appreciated their participation, and their comments.  They were an amazing bunch of kids!

Ms. Stacey Starley was especially helpful, and I want to say a big thank you to her, for setting everything up for me, and for the tasty lunch she got for me afterwards.

Oh, and here I am, in a Wasatch Elementary Wildcats t-shirt!  Thanks so much, everyone at Wasatch Elementary in Ogden!!

Spindle by W. R. Gingell

Spindle (c) 2015 W. R. Gingell

I recently discovered a wonderful book, Spindle, written by an extremely skillful writer, W. R. Gingell.

I am a sucker for well-written, clean fantasy, and I especially like it when there's a healthy bit of humor thrown in as well!

Spindle has all of that.

Polyhymnia or Poly for short, was a fantastic character, and I truly admired her. She was spunky, thought for herself, and could take care of herself if need be. Not your typical damsel in distress, for sure!

I liked Luck, the hero.  He was quite sure of himself, but not overpowering, and he was very pragmatic.   He and Polly were wonderfully entertaining together. And Onepiece was absolutely adorable! So cute, smart, and protective of Poly.   Onepiece starts out as a puppy, but then... Well you'd have to read the book for yourself.

Spindle was a very funny spinoff of the idea of Sleeping Beauty, and how her troubles didn’t end when she woke up from her long nap. In reality, they were actually beginning!

I heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy, especially fantasy with women who can stand on their own two feet and make their own decisions, without needing to have a man to motivate them, or tell them what to do! 

Spindle is a great book!  Loved it, loved it!  

Becky Ann Woods Photography

Good photography is something that not everyone has the skill for, but that nearly everyone appreciates.  You have to get the light just right, the right time of day, the right sunlight... the right backdrop... so many things!

And have you noticed how a really great photo tells a story of its very own?  Just in one still shot, without words.  Some photographers know how to do that very well.

Becky Ann Woods is one of those photographers.   And she's a pretty awesome person too!

Check out her great website at beckyannphotography.com, and browse some of her wonderful photos!

Against the Odds by Jewel Adams

Against the Odds is a fantastic book by a great writer, Jewel Adams (or J. Adams as she often goes by, on her books).  Check it out, here!

In this story, we follow Raine, a character who has been through a terrible marriage to an unfaithful man, and finally leaves, going to stay with her good friend on her ranch.  Being on the ranch she can clear her head, and get her life in perspective.  But just as she's doing that, she meets Hayden.

Despite her reservations, she finds herself drawn more and more to him.  Having been hurt before, she is reluctant and distrustful, but as she gets to know Hayden, she realizes more and more that he isn't anything like her former spouse.  He's honest, moral, caring, and genuine.  And most especially, he's drawn to her too.  Ooh, goodie!

But things aren't smooth sailing for them, and troubles get thrown at them left and right, threatening to tear them apart.  Can Raine learn to trust him, or are the problems from her past just too great to overcome?

I really enjoyed this book, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good, clean romance!

Bookmarked Bargains and My Book Cave

From today until October 15, the ebook version of my newest book, Felicity and the Featherless Two-Foot is offered for free on amazon.  And I was very pleased that  Bookmarked Bargains and My Book Cave were gracious enough to list the book for their readers to see.

Felicity and the Featherless Two-Foot is a middle grade fantasy about a young sparrow, Felicity, who can read.  She's already been on one adventure, and is friends with the fairies now as a result of he heroic actions in the last book.  Still, there's a lot about the world that she doesn't know...  


Felicity doesn't know much about featherless two-foots, those strange folks her friends the fairies call people. But she's about to learn a lot. Like why they're so fascinated by those flat silver . . . rocks many of them carry around. And what the heck is a come-putter?

If it sounds like something you would enjoy, I hope you head over to amazon and pick up a copy of Felicity and the Featherless Two-Foot!

Mysteries of Cove Fires of Invention by J. Scott Savage Launch Party

Yesterday evening, my two younger children and I were very lucky to attend the launch party for J. Scott Savage's newest series, Mysteries of Cove.  The first book is called Fires of Invention. 

It was a great launch party, and I really enjoyed it!  The marvelous James Dashner was the MC, and he did a great job. 
We got to meet some of the characters from J. Scott Savage's books, including Marcus and Kyja from Far Word, and there were several hilarious skits played, all including a steam punk theme.  

One especially funny one was regency romance combined with  steam punk where the "hero" tried to make a steam powered automatic fan for his sweetheart which then malfunctioned, and... well, the results weren't pretty.

My favorite was a dance performed to the song Immortal from the movie Big Hero 6.  I forgot the name of the dance group.  But they did an amazing job, complete with steam punk attire, and everything!

Another funny scene was the "dragon" in tights which really made the kids in the audience crack up.  He was a pretty funny guy!

After he was shooed away, (well, he never quite left) the screen came down, and we got to see a pretty cool dragon surrounded by flames on the big screen.  

And of course, Mr. J. Scott Savage was there (being the author it would be odd if he wasn't) clad in minion pajamas of course, to talk about his book.

And of course I can't fail to mention that one of the great parts was the Fires of Invention trailer that played on the screen for us.  Watch it, here!  It's great!

What I really like about Mysteries of Cove, is that its message emphasizes how important it is to invent and create and make new things; not just simply regurgitate information from the past.  Sure we need the past to learn from it, but we also need to move forward into the future, and be individuals who contribute and make things better for ourselves and for others.

From the book description:
"Trenton Colman is a creative thirteen-year-old boy with a knack for all things mechanical. But his talents are viewed with suspicion in Cove, a steam-powered city built inside a mountain. In Cove, creativity is a crime and invention is a curse word.

Kallista Babbage is a repair technician and daughter of the notorious Leo Babbage, whose father died in an explosion; an event the leaders of Cove point to as an example of the danger of creativity.

Working together, Trenton and Kallista learn that Leo Babbage was developing a secret project before he perished. Following clues he left behind, they begin to assemble a strange machine that is unlike anything they've ever seen before. They soon discover that what they are building may threaten every truth their city is founded on and quite possibly their very lives."

To read more about this fantastic book and the author who wrote it, visit his website here. 

And happy inventing!