Sunday Scramble - From the Gator's Mouth

Happy Sunday (albeit a bit late in the day). Sorry...the sun is out and I had things to take care of this morning. I have a feeling something strange is going to be taking place soon. Hanover's been on edge for over a week -- something to do with Regan and some silly monkey. I guess we'll know soon enough. Until then it's just business as usual.




Here's the solution to last week's scramble:

A whorl of white and silver fell across her forehead and she let it hang there. “Yes, but no. We could give his soul a fairy body, or even a goblin’s, but that wouldn’t be fair to him. He’s lived a mortal life. I think he’d miss it."

irfay - fairy
sulo -soul
rlmtao  - mortal
horwl  - whorl
erilvs  -silver
dorehefa - forehead

This week's scramble is a quote from From the Gator's Mouth, the book that tells the story of how Hanover Fist was born.

She ____________ his eyes widen as his __________ moved back away from him. “Now __________, it is not nice to __________ with your __________,” Agatha __________ softly.


abto
glegigd 
ildcenhr
odfo
lypa 
chwedat 

Solve the scramble by filling out the form and receive a coupon for From the Gator's Mouth. Any ebook format is available.

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Regan Rants - L'Wren Scott RIP

Regan Worth

You know what I hate? I hate when I wake up in the afternoon and find out someone I really admire has gone to another realm and can't come back. Case in point - L'Wren Scott. 

Now I don't stick with specific designers and I never have. But some of her fashions were brilliant. take this dress, for example. I would look stupendous in this dress. Not that I ever wore it....or had anywhere to wear it to, or the figure to wear it, but it is fab. Look at how the neckline plunges and accentuates the hips.  It's a dress a girl can really show off. Sure, so Toledo's curves would fit this dress better than mine -- but it would look okay on me too.

This dress, on the other hand, is so Mary O'Malley. I mean, it is seriously spinster-librarian, with the bow in front and the cute little white collar. You couldn't even wear lipstick with that dress *whispers* and Mary doesn't wear lipstick...not a dash. 

So yes, this dress is perfect for my friend Mary. I wouldn't wear it in a million years, but Mary would feel right at home in it. The black would offset her red hair too...although she rarely wears black. She seems to prefer pale colors. Wrong...just totally wrong for her complexion.

Now this dress, on the other hand, is totally me. It fits my slender shape...so curves are not my strongest point. And I have always loved beads and a bit of jagged -- fringe -- whatever. I don't like the straight-laced stuff. Give me a little zip...a little zag.. a little edge. This is a dress I could totally see myself wearing when I'm having a good time and showing just enough leg to be mysterious.

You were a talented lady, L'Wren Scott. You were young and beautiful and you understood the shape of a woman -- all of us. You had a spark for designing something for every personality. The world will miss your talent. Rest in Peace, brilliant lady. 

Toledo Talks - Working the Soil

Toledo Cats

Maybe the snow still covers the ground in some places, but down here in New Orleans, I can smell the soil. It calls me and makes me want to dig my hands into it and feel the worms squirm out from between my fingers. My family has always worked the soil.

Mama kept a garden, even after we moved to town. Each spring, I helped her plant herbs and flowers. She would tell me their purpose. Mama barely ever planted anything without a purpose. It's how she grew up. Of course, Mama could always find a purpose for just about any plant. Why would the Great Mother have put them here with no purpose?

Yes, I smell Mama in the springtime. But I also smell my Uncle Jesse. While Mama planted small gardens with her hands, Jesse planted fields of sugar cane. He would work all morning and come in for dinner around noon, glistening with sweat and grinning ear to ear. "The ground's good this year," he'd say. "We're gonna get ourselves a good crop of cane sugar." His eyes would glisten and by the time I was older, I knew cane sugar meant rum and rum meant sales...especially to Grumwald. But when I was younger, I was content to sneak into the fields and listen to him sing. Jesse's voice was so deep and wonderful. It transported me to other worlds...worlds I had not been to and neither had he....worlds he had learned of from the stories told by his father...my grandfather...who I never met.

Sunday Scramble - The Desert Rose + All Things Irish Blog Hop

Welcome to the Sunday Scramble! This week, we're happy to be part of the Leaping Leprechauns and Frolicking Fairies: All Things Irish blog tour. Thank you to Candace's Book Blog and Gin's Book Notes for hosting this blog hop.

Last week's scramble was from High Rollers, which is on sale for $1.99 until midnight tonight Mountain Time. Here's the solution:

As Regan stepped into the casino, the first thing she saw was her own reflection smiling from jagged mirror shards arranged haphazardly to look like stalactites. 

ardhazlyhap - haphazardly
niligsm - smiling
romirr - mirror
lacstaestit - stalactites
sincao - casino

This week's scramble is from The Desert Rose, the sequel to Rips in the Weave. Hint: You can get a still get a free copy of Rips in the Weave by visiting Toledo's post below and filling out the form.

In keeping with the theme of the blog hop, this quote is about fairies. That's a hint.


A __________ of white and __________ fell across her __________ and she let it hang there. “Yes, but no. We could give his __________ a __________ body, or even a goblin’s, but that wouldn’t be fair to him. He’s lived a ____________ life. I think he’d miss it."

irfay 
sulo 
rlmtao 
horwl 
erilvs 
dorehefa 

Good luck!

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Toledo Talks - A Fairy Garden

Toledo Cats

This week, in honor of springtime, I decided to talk about gardening. I've been gardening since I was a little girl. My first garden was a fairy garden. It was mostly a rock garden beneath Mama's magnolia tree. I'd sing to my dolls and every so often a fairy or two would stop by to listen. Whiskey Joe suggested I grow heather, and so I did. I planted purple heather the first year. When it's blooms reached toward the sky, Whiskey Joe taught me how to step through so I could visit the fairies myself.

Heather photo (Courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens)

I later added other colors to the mix. The fairies liked to visit the heather too. For years, I visited the fairies and they visited me. I didn't realize until I was older that they could be treacherous -- that they could steal the souls of infants.

I learned a lot about them later, both good and bad. I learned that like people, they were capable of hatred, greed, and love. At the time Whiskey Joe taught me how to pass through the heather, I had no idea he was a fairy himself. It was only after I thought he had died that I found him in the fairy realm, making music just like he had on the New Orleans streets. That story appears in Mind of a Mad Man.

Later Whiskey Joe told me the real story. How he'd fallen in love and decided it was time to go back to the realm where he belonged. He wrote a song about the day he met the woman he loved. He's agreed to sing it to us.

I am celebrating spring this week by participating in the Leaping Leprechaun blog hop and planting some potatoes and onions -- maybe a few other things, depending on the weather. Are you planning to do some gardening?  Have you ever planted a fairy garden?

Leave a comment with your email and I'll send you a coupon for a free copy of Rips in the Weave -- the story where all the trouble in the realms began. There are a few fairies in Rips in the Weave, but there are definitely goblins.

And don't forget, High Rollers is on sale for $1.99 through Saturday March 23rd. Get your copy today if you haven't. 

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the blog hop.

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Never Disturb a Fairy Ring

Duncan O'Malley

Thanks to my best friend's daughter, Regan Worth, I'm here this St. Paddy's Day to share a warning with you all about the dangers of fairy rings. I felt it only right to pass on the warning I gave my daughter...the same warning my mother gave me, albeit most likely too late. Now some will tell you that a fairy ring is just a fungus that ruins the lawn. Gardening folk will tell you to dig them up and destroy the ring. I will tell you different. Leave them be.

It was a spring day and I was still a lad, living on my parents' farm in Ireland. I was a light-hearted boy and I loved to explore the bog. That's where I saw my first dead body, but that's a story for another day. The day I learned of fairy rings was a rare sunny one. I followed my mother  down to the bog when she went to fetch the butter. I was a wee lad, maybe three or four.

I skipped along beside her, singing:

O-ro the rattlin' bog, 
The bog down in the valley-o
O-ro the rattlin' bog, 
The bog down in the valley-o

I was young enough that I couldn't remember the order of all the things you see -- tree, limb, branch, twig, nest, egg, bird, feather, flea -- so Mum sang along with me. We were on the verse about the bird in the egg when she stopped singing.

"Don't you do that, son."

"What, Mum?" I asked. I saw she'd grown pale and was staring at the ground.

"See those mushrooms?"

"Sure I do. Can we pick some?" I loved mushrooms, even then.

"Not those mushrooms. Those belong to the fairies. If you disturb them, they'll come after you."

I stared at the nearly perfect circle of mushrooms -- perfect except for where I'd kicked one away. It lay there broken and sad. "Do you think they saw me?" I asked.

"Let's hope not." Her voice was stern. She took me by the hand and led me to the bog. "Let's tiptoe the rest of the way so we don't wake them."

And so we did. It might have been that night the nightmares started...or sometime soon after. They have never left me, only changed as time went on. I was still a mostly carefree lad and I never saw a fairy in the bog, but I have to wonder sometimes if they didn't see me kick that mushroom. How else can I account for the bad luck I've had and the things I've seen?  Not that it was all bad. I wouldn't trade my luck in finding Maggie Bloom for all the pots of gold in the universe.

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, my daughter Mary has asked me to give away copies of Angels in Hell's Kitchen, the story about the first day I met Mary's mum. All you need to do is fill out the form.

I also need to tell you that High Rollers is only 99 cents today through Wednesday. That's a 66% discount from its regular $2.99. By the time High Rollers happened, I had gone on from the physical realm, but I think you'll like the story anyway. Many of the people I loved through life are in it.

Well, I guess I'm off. Thank you Regan for helping me tell my story. I hope a lot of people buy your story this week. It's a great price for a fun tale. Of course, I wish I had been there to help solve the crime, but a ghost can't be everywhere.

Enjoy the rest of the blog hop.I'm sure you will -- It's All Things Irish, so who wouldn't?

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Sunday Scramble - High Rollers

Unfortunately, we did not have a winner for last week's scramble. 

The answer to last week's scramble is:

A few memories leaked out. She let them rest beneath the turtle’s belly. He’d have to grow before he could swallow all her secrets.




ethenba - beneath
osmrieem - memories
lyelb - belly
setsecr - secrets
alswwlo - swallo

This week's scramble is from High Rollers, which is on sale starting tomorrow on Amazon. It's a countdown sale, so get your Kindle edition early.

Monday March 17th -Wednesday March 19th - 99 cents
Thursday March 20th - Saturday March 23rd - $1.99

On Sunday March 24, the price goes back to its normal $2.99.

Of course, if you're the first to solve the scramble, you won't need to buy it because we'll send you a free copy.





Here's the scramble.

As Regan stepped into the ___________ , the first thing she saw was her own reflection ____________ from jagged ____________ shards arranged _________________ to look like ______________. 

ardhazlyhap 
niligsm 
romirr 
lacstaestit
sincao

Oh and there is more news this week. We will be participating in the Leaping Leprehchauns & Frolicking Fairies blog hop. With a little help from Regan, I've invited my father, Duncan O'Malley back from the dead to talk about his encounter with the little people. He'll tell his story tomorrow and will give away an ebook coupon for Angels in Hell's Kitchen to whoever comments. Then on Thursday, Toledo Cats will talk about the fairies she's encountered and share a story about Whiskey Joe, She'll be giving away ebook coupons for Rips in the Weave to anyone who comments on her post.