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Showing posts from September, 2021

Stories With Barbara: Just Me

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It's time for another installment of Stories with Barbara on YouTube. If you haven't visited my YouTube channel , you'll find more stories and other videos there, so check it out and subscribe. This week's story is "Just Me." It appeared in moonShine review, Vol 12, Issue 2.  This story is very different from the other stories I've posted, and I hope you'll find some humor in it. If you like it, please share it!

50 YA SciFi and Fantasy Books? Yep!

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I don't know about you, but when Autumn rolls around, I love to curl up in a comfy chair with a hot drink and lose myself in the world of another book. If that sounds like paradise to you, then guess what? There's an amazing book contest going on right now, and you won't want to miss it! 📚 If you haven’t read THE WATCHERS OF MONIAH , winner of the Imadjinn Best Fantasy Novel, you can enter to win it on BookSweeps today — plus 50 exciting Young Adult Sci-Fi & Fantasy novels from a great collection of authors AND a brand new eReader! 😲 I know, right? It's hard to believe, but it's true. Here's a peek at this amazing library worth over $500. Here’s the link to enter 👉 bit.ly/YASFF-Sep21 This contest ends on Sept. 29, so don't wait! When you’re done, comment to let me know you’ve entered. My fingers are crossed that one of my loyal readers will win. AND, if you know someone who would like these books, then share this giveaway with them and on your

How Do You Move a Giraffe?

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It's been awhile since I've written a post on giraffes. A friend shared a Time magazine article with me the other day that tracked the shipment of a 4 foot tall stuffed giraffe toy. (I shared it on my Facebook Author page if you want to check it out.) Although the article tracks the complications from Covid for shipping a toy from China to its destination, it got me thinking about one of the biggest efforts the Giraffe Conservation Foundation  (GCG) takes to save giraffes. Namely, translocation of giraffes from one place to another in hopes of encouraging population growth in areas that either have no giraffes or very few. Called Operation Twiga, this effort takes some of the most critically endangered giraffes and moves them to safer places. This project has been quite successful, and I'm astounded at the extent of effort, dedication, and teamwork required to make it so. Below are links to two short videos chronicling these efforts: Sometimes they capture the giraffes to

How The Wheel of Time Influenced My Writing

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Over the last few weeks, Amazon Prime revealed sneak peeks of The Wheel of Time TV series coming in November. The trailer (see below) promises so much, and I can't wait for November 19 to get here. Why? Because, more than any other epic fantasy series, The Wheel of Time (WoT) captured my imagination and influenced my writing. How? Here are a few examples. Many Characters and Multiple Points of View Before George R. R. Martin, we had Robert Jordan. He starts the first book, The Eye of the World , with one point of view, Rand al'Thor, but once the main five characters get separated while being pursued by trollocs, the story follows the different groups from each point of view. As the series advanced through fourteen books, many more point of view characters joined the mix. AND many characters who don't have a point of view chapter are woven into the story. Jordan proved it can be done. The scale of The Watchers of Moniah comes nowhere close to the numbers Jordan created, b