On Writing Half Faerie: Is it Insta-love for Melia & Ryder?

Insta-love is a popular phenomenon in young adult, new adult, contemporary—okay, insta-love can be pretty much found in any genre where characters are falling in love.

Why is insta-love so popular?

Why do some people love it while others groan and throw the book against the wall?

Chemistry is real.

Phermones, whatever you call it. Of the billions of potential partners on this planet, how many of us are attracted to all of them?

None of us.

Why not?

It just doesn't work that way.

Mysterious forces, seemingly, draw us to that one guy across the room wearing the glasses, the faded tee, and those jeans.

HIM.

Why?

If that romantic sighting goes any farther, we might get some answers. We might find we have amazing things in common, that some quirky trait of his drives us insane (in a good way), or that he's a great kisser. Or something. Or we might find out—Ugh! It was the most superficial of attractions and, please, get this guy away from me.

But if attraction blooms, and continues to grow...

When do we know it's love?

And what is love, anyway?

When I met my husband, I'd decided I was pretty much a failure at love. At least I was a failure at picking out someone to fall in love with. Cause the guys I dated before I met my husband, well, let's just say they all had their great qualities, but there was a reason they were in my past.

Uh-huh. You know what I'm talking about.

Back to my husband, my The One.

I was at a new job. It was completely overwhelming.  I don't think I noticed anyone or anything other than the stack of files on my desk for the first three months.

Then one morning I was in a departmental staff meeting and looked up.

There was this guy sitting across the room with this kind of halo of light around him.

I was like: Who is that guy?

A few weeks later, there was an office crises. Parents were calling to find emergency baby-sitters; everyone else was calling out for pizza. It was going to be a long night.

HE walked into the panic room. Sat at the table with the one dumb terminal. (Do they still have those?)
Took off his glasses. Stared at the screen. Put his glasses back on. Got up, said, "There's a comma missing in the JCL," and walked out.

OMG. Who is that guy?

No one stayed late.

I was standing by the elevators one morning with one of my colleagues. HE walked by, put one hand on her shoulder, put one hand on my shoulder, offered us both a simple, quick greeting, and was gone.

It didn't piss me off and I HATE for people I don't know to touch me.

It all climaxed at an office lunch at the Spaghetti Warehouse. We were talking about Titanic. It had been released a few weeks earlier and I'd already seen it three times.

"Why would you want to go see a movie when you already know the end?" someone asked.

"Because it's so romantic," I said. "I love it."

Ten people down, HE leaned forward, looked at ME, and said, "I love it too."

Be still my beating heart.

We went out soon after that, and well, now, we're married.

But until I'd met him, I'd never understood when someone told me, "You'll know."

Like, how will you know?

And then I did.

And living it was a revelation.

So I really wanted Melia and Ryder to have that.

Not exactly insta-love, but definitely insta-attraction.

Swoon.

I guess the only thing I can do at this point is leave you with that song…

Book Blitz: Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #3) By Chanda Hahn

Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #3) by Chanda Hahn 

Publication date: August 27th, 2013
Genre: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Book 3 in the UnEnchanted Series.

All that glitters is not gold.

When something precious is stolen from sixteen-year-old Mina Grime, she will do anything in her power to get it back, even if it means traveling to the dangerous Fae plane and battling one of the strongest fairy-tale villains yet.

However, nothing can prepare Mina for the dangerous obstacles she will face in the Fae world, or the choices she must make when love and life are on the line.

~Excerpt from Fable~

Mina stopped and parted the long weeping willow’s branches, and could see the rose resting against Jared’s black boot. Wait…not Jared—Teague.

Teague reached down to pick up the rose and brought it to his nose to breathe in its scent. His hair was a lighter shade of brown than Jared’s, and his eyes were a deep blue, while Jared’s were a haunting gray. They both had similar angular jaws and drop-deadgorgeous looks. Teague once again was dressed in black, and Mina had a mind to joke about whether he was going to a funeral, but he was, so the words died on her lips before she even spoke them. Instead, she glared at him and held out her hand, demandingthe rose without saying a word.

Teague’s eyes widened and looked her over, never once dropping his Cheshire Cat smile. “I only came to pay my respects.”

“What respect? You don’t respect me or my family. Otherwise, your kind never would have cursed us.”

“You’re wrong—it’s always wise to respect your enemies.”

“Well, I don’t respect you.”

“You should, Mina. Do you see what happens when you ignore your duty—when you ignore me?” He pointed to Charlie’s grave, and his voice became threatening. “I don’t like to be ignored, and now you have one less distraction in your life, so you can focus more of your time on me.”

Teague’s words confirmed her worst fears. Her actions had led Teague to strike out against her family and kill her brother. Her stomach dropped, bile rose in her throat, and every inch of her was sick with the guilt his words layered on her. It was her fault, and she knew it. But she couldn’t show him how weak she was, and how much his words had affected her. She had one more person to protect: her mother, and she would not be negligent again.

“You’re not welcome here. So please leave.” Mina snatched the rose out of Teague’s hand and felt a sting in her palm. She winced in pain but refused to acknowledge it.

Teague reached for her hand, and Mina let him open up her palm to inspect her wound from the thorn. She was still reeling, and her whole body shook with anger. Teague leaned forward and blew on the small cut in her palm, and it healed itself. She ripped her hand from his grasp and took two steps away from him, almost falling on the ground. She needed to keep better control of herself. She needed Jared.

“How is my dear brother?” he asked, as if reading her mind.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

His eyes darkened. “We are not exactly on speaking terms.”

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that you keep trying to kill me, would it?”

“Now, sweet Mina, our fight goes back long before you were born. But you can’t hold it against me that I’m only doing my job. I’m supposed to throw quests your way, and you are supposed to try to stop me. It’s as simple as that. I can’t help it if we have a casualty or so in the process. That’s what makes the stories so good.” He smirked. “That’s what makes them popular. That’s what makes me powerful.” He was so close to her now that he ran the back of his finger across her cheek, and she flinched and smacked it away.

“I see that you are as disgusting as ever.”

“I see that you’re getting your fight back. You know, Mina, out of all the Grimms over the years who died at the hands of my fables, you are by far my favorite to toy with. I wonder why that is?” he asked, appearing to ponder the question.

“Maybe because you picked the wrong girl to mess with.”

“I don’t think so. I’ve finally found the perfect Grimm. I think you will be the most challenging. Which means your ending, the tale that finishes you off, will make us both famous.”

Mina’s lip trembled, and she steeled herself to not show fear. She stood her ground and looked Teague right in the eye. “A thousand sweet words can never disguise the rattle of a viper aboutvto strike. I will not drop my guard ever again. And I will end this curse…by doing whatever…or killing whoever…I have to.”

Teague’s face turned furious, and his lips pressed into an angry thin line. “Then be prepared, my dear Mina, for you won’t be able to ignore this next tale. I’ve made sure of that.” He stepped away from her. A crack of thunder rattled the earth and she jumped, turning in surprise. A second later, pouring rain followed, soaking everyone within minutes. Mina turned back toward Teague, but he was gone.

About CHAHNDA HAHN

(Pronunciation: Sh-and-uh   H-ah-n)

Chanda is the  author of the popular YA Unfortunate Fairy Tale Series which includes UnEnchanted and Fairest.  Both books have topped the ebook charts in 5 countries. She also pens YA epic Fantasy.

She was born in Seattle, Washington, raised in Nebraska, has lived in MN, IL and currently lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and twin children. She's a former children's librarian and children's pastor. Currently she spends her free time penning new novels and a daytime taxi driver for her kids.

 Website | Goodreads |  Facebook | Twitter

On Writing Jade: Author T.A. Brock Enlightens Me on Dreadlocks

It's been so much fun fine-tuning Jade, the character who will be Melia's rival in Half-Mortal. Although Jade is half-faerie and half-mortal like Melia, she's grown up in the Mortal World oblivious to her faerie blood. Intensely connected to nature, passionate about portal fantasies, and existing mostly on espresso, Umbra has already begun to call her. That she wears dreadlocks is only part of her ethereal charm.

However, since I've never had dreadlocks, I needed to do some research. I was so excited when T. A. Brock, the awesome author of Fatal (The Dead of Asher), generously answered my plea for help when I contacted her on Twitter. So I sent her an email asking her some questions:

how do you feel about your dreadlocks, maybe as part of your identity

what made you choose dreadlocks in the first place?

how do you start them?

and how do you maintain them?

The character will be a significant one in my current WIP. She's half-faerie and doesn't always feel like she's in the right place, i.e. the mortal world. She's kind of ethereal but also rather tough. I guess I want her to love her dreadlocks and also that they have some meaning to her, if that makes sense!

T. A. Brock on dreads & meaning
It's perfect that you want your character's dreads to mean something to her because in my experience, that's how it is for most people who have them. Sure, there are some who view them as simply a hairstyle, but for many, there is a deeper reason for why they wear dreads. For me specifically, it was quite a few reasons all rolled into one.

Here are a few:

I'd always wanted them. I thought they were cool but I didn't ever think I could actually wear them (I suffered a lot of misunderstandings concerning dreads, but we'll get to that later).

After my daughter was born, I suffered a VERY mild case of agoraphobia. Some days, the idea of leaving the house brought a deep sense of dread. I knew this wasn't me. Wasn't like me. I wanted to change it. My main hang-up was I felt like people were always staring at me. It was silly to think like that since I'm pretty sure people weren't ACTUALLY staring at me, but once it was in my head, it was there for good. My dreads became a sort of immersion therapy. Where I live, there are not many people who wear dreadlocks so I received a lot of curious stares. Somehow, this helped. It was like, if I caught someone staring, they had a reason. I could think to myself, it's my hair, not me. They're just interested in my hair.

T.A. Brock on dreads as a learning experience 
They've taught me patience. It takes at least a year, sometimes more, for a single dreadlock to mature. Until then, they are loose and frayed and fairly unsightly. With dreads, you really have to commit to them and be willing to give them time to become what they should be.

They've taught me things don't have to be perfect. In the beginning, it was very hard for me to have "messy" hair. It didn't feel right. I even had parents at my kid's school make comments about how I just didn't want to comb my hair. Eventually, it became liberating, one less thing to stress about. It also helped me to let go of caring what others thought about me.

Which brings me to my next point.

Dreads have taught me about acceptance and the importance of not stereotyping. What I mean is, I learned the value of not being judgmental... while being on the receiving end of a stereotype. I found out rather quickly, that people in my area associate dreads with "pot-smoking hippies". Unfortunately, I became aware of this when a policeman knocked on my door in the middle of my kid's naptime and informed me that an anonymous tip reported a strong odor of marijuana coming from my house. Ummmmm... I remember just staring at him for the longest time, trying to absorb what he was saying. Then I said, "Do you smell anything?" He actually stared pointedly at my hair before finally saying no. Now, whatever your beliefs are on the matter, I personally have never tried marijuana so this experience was equally hilarious and disturbing.

T.A. Brock on starting dreads:
There are several ways to start dreads:
Backcombing (using a comb to rat a section of hair)
Twist & Rip method (not as awful as it sounds but sort of hard to explain), and
Natural/neglect (completely neglecting hair except for washing, this eventually creates knots/dreads).

I did the twist and rip method with NO wax. I'm not a waxer. I put nothing in my hair to start it.

T.A. Brock on dread maintenance
There are so many different ways people maintain their dreads. Some go to a salon and have them tightened (loose hairs are pulled in with a hook-like device). I chose not to do this. I have a lot of loose hairs but I kind of like them. It seems natural to me so I leave them alone. The only thing I do is sometimes trim the underneath, around my nape. The hair there is almost completely un-dreaded. I do the same with my bangs.

Washing. This is probably the most misunderstood part of having dreads: Yes, you CAN wash them. You SHOULD wash them. I wash my hair the same as I did before I had dreads... except I rinse longer. Gotta get all that shampoo out. Also, I use a residue-free shampoo, otherwise you can damage the dreads with soap buildup. I've had MANY strangers in public, ask me if I wash my hair. Yes, they actually ask me that! I always reassure them that I do.

Thank you, Tawnya! 

Please stalk Tawnya & her dreads at:

Twitter | Blog | Facebook | Goodreads 

 About Fatal (The Dead of Asher) by T.A. Brock

YA Romance

 Zombies eat brains: wrong.
Zombies are mindless and unthinking: nope.
Zombies are rotting bags of flesh: not necessarily.
Zombies kill humans: never... well, there is that one exception.

Grayson Patch hasn’t been human since he was seventeen years old… and that was nineteen years ago. When he rose from the dead that night, a Zombie, he had no memory of his former life, a craving for raw flesh, and only one purpose: to find a cure. He wishes only to be human again and he is promised that it is possible. But first he must find the human that can help him before he begins to decompose… and trade her life for his. As he learns more about her, he just doesn't know if he can do it. Can he? When the cost of being human again is to become a monster?

Cori Abbot isn’t scared of Grayson. Not when there are a million other things for her to worry about. Like being the new girl in a school that is a fraction the size of her old one. Or making new friends while battling her antisocial tendencies. And then there’s the big one: dealing with the recent and sudden death of her father. Yeah, there are bigger problems than the strange, withdrawn, and consistently angry guy who seems to hate her for no apparent reason. Imagine how surprised she is to realize that the ever hostile Grayson might actually be the one who understands her the best.

~Excerpt~

"I love you and that’s just the way it is.”
He hated that she felt like that, wished that she didn’t. With all his being, he wished it. It didn’t matter that he felt like he couldn’t live without her. It didn’t matter that the very thought of losing her took him to dark places.
“I’ll ruin you.” His voice broke and he hated himself a little more for it.
She turned her face and kissed his palm. “No, you won’t.”
Her eyes… they were so pure in that moment, so full of hope… and love. They were full of love. She loved him. How could she love him?
Her arms went around his waist.
With that gesture, he felt everything inside him crumble. Everything that made him, him just broke apart and came back together in a different way. He didn’t want to go on without her. He wasn’t sure just what kind of person it made him but he couldn’t hold back anymore. Whether it was wrong or right, he wanted her.

in  closing, please enjoy the Twinkle Brothers performing Faith Can Move Mountains

What's Ultimately Dark... & What's Ultimately Light?

I finish reading The Wisdom of Psycopaths by Kevin Dutton. And how did I stumble upon this gem, you might ask.

Well, if you've been reading my blog at all—you've probably noticed an explicable swerve from the usual theme of faeries, magic, and enchantment to… uhm… me fangirling Dexter every other Sunday. Which, BTW, the more I delve into the shows wrap-up podcasts produced by Scott Reynolds and watch things like The Writer's Room episode featuring Dexter aka Michael C. Hall aka David Fisher, Sara Colleton, Scott Buck, Wendy West, and Manny Coto on the Sundance Channel, the more I discover my love for the show's WRITING is justified! YAY. I'd hate to be all crazy and fangirling over some pathetic show glorifying serial killers with lots of cliches and gratuitous violence like The Following… ahem. (Sorry!) Cause like Scott Buck said: "Dexter is about a serial killer, but it's not a serial killer show."

Okay, where was I? Oh, yes, I've given myself permission to go full-frontal fangirling on Dexter this final season and that means keeping up with the show's official blog, Dexter Daily. So there was a post on the blog about Kevin Dutton and THAT is how I came across The Wisdom of Pyscopaths.

And as you know, I'm super fascinated by psychology so I have to read this book. And I do.

OMG. It definitely reframes things. In this final season, Dr. Vogel—the neuropsychiatrist played by the phenomenal Charlotte Rampling—espouses edgy theories about psychopaths, a perspective which comes straight out of Dutton's book or at least from the studies cited therein. What's really irreverent is the book's final chapter… Gee, I just can't SPOIL it for you…  But I'll leave you with a hint. It seems there's a distant proximity between the psychopath and the saint.

And of course that gets me to thinking about Umbra… because these kinds of questions about what's ultimately dark and what's ultimately light fuel the cosmology in Daughter of Light.

Fangirling Pick of the Week: Download Dexter Wrap-Up Podcast 7.02 (#24) with Jennifer Carpenter from iTunes.

Book Blogger Interview: Konstanz Silverbow

Today I'd like to welcome Konstanz Silverbow. She's the author of the bookish blog No Thought Too Small.

1. Please introduce yourself and tell us anything you’d like folks to know about you.
My name is Konstanz Silverbow. I collect dragons and swords! I write fantasy and am the proud Creator of magical worlds, fictional creatures, ideal super heroes and sarcasm since 2007!

2. Coffee or tea or water? Espresso, drip, instant, or french press? Bag or looseleaf? Bottled, filtered, tap or rainwater?
Water. I don't like Coffee or tea.  Rainwater is the best!

3. Why do you blog about books?
I love to read, I love to write. I was told to get my foot in the door, introduce myself to others if I wanted to make it in the writing world. So I went to conferences and started a blog. I love every bit of it!

4. What inspired the design of your site?
I am actually planning on doing a makeover soon. It is time I make my blog look a little more like me. It will be all dragons and well, that's because I love dragons! And it fits because I write fantasy. :)

5. What is your favorite thing about book blogging?
Honestly, the authors! I love getting to meet new authors, and help them get their books out there. Helping readers find books!

6. How do you decide which books to read?
A lot of things. The cover, the blurb, the author. I read Fantasy mostly but I will read other genres if I think I will like them just by what is on the cover and the synopsis.

7. How much time do you invest reading and blogging?
If I'm not writing, I'm reading. If I'm not reading, I'm blogging! I love all of it, so pretty much all of my time. :) Aside from when I actually have to go to work. Cause book blogging doesn't exactly pay the bills.

8. Care to comment on the Alice Hoffman quote: Books may well be the only magic?
Well books are definitely magic. But I did an interview and asked the author "What is your definition of magic?" and her answer has stuck with me. "Magic is taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary."

9. On a scale of 1-10, how eccentric are you? 10 being VERY…
Hmmm . . .Maybe a 7? Depends I suppose. :)

10. Is there anything else we need to know about you?
Well if you care to know, I also play the violin, make jewelry, and just finished my third book (my fourth is almost done!) and I am hoping to be published in 2014.

Only Half Alive by Konstanz Silverbow

The World's darkest creature, will be their brightest hope!

While darkness haunts her, she craves the light. Christina is a demon, but she doesn't want to be. She is
willing to sacrifice everything to change it. Only one person stands in her way, and he will stop at nothing to keep her the way she is.

The greatest battle of light vs dark threatens every living creature, a battle that could destroy all. And the demon in love will only have one chance to save everyone.

Missing Royal by Konstanz Silverbow

One princess destroyed the world, one princess must save it.

When she was little she wished to be a princess. Now as a teenager she just wishes she fit in. But Shanice doesn't feel like she belongs, she never has.

When her parents tell her she is the last known princess from another world, it all makes sense. A world full of magic in place of technology. One where she is more than just royalty, she is their last chance to stop the one who is bent on destroying it. Mendina.

But she can't do it alone, first she must find the other missing royals. In her quest, Shanice will be forced to choose between the course prophecy set for her, and the one that leads to the man her heart belongs to.

Delicious Golden Apples

I'm re-reading Prince Caspian. It's the second book in The Chronicles of Narnia if you're reading the books in the order they were published.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
Prince Caspian (1951)
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
The Silver Chair  (1953)
The Horse and His Boy (1954)
The Magicians Nephew (1955)
The Last Battle (1956)

However, some people prefer to read them chronologically—Narnian time.

The Magicians Nephew
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Horse and His Boy
Prince Caspian
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Last Battle

I just can't, although I give it some consideration. I feel compelled to re-discover Narnia in the exact same way I discovered it many years ago.

I finish The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe a few weeks ago and am surprised by how much I enjoy it. I'm a couple of chapters into Prince Caspian and my heart is glowing. Must be those golden apples.

It's so cool the way that Lewis brings the Pevensies back to Cair Paravel hundreds of years after their first departure. And although they don't immediatley realize they're back in Narnia, their re-discovery of it is magical. There is something so tangible about Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy munching on those delicious golden apples in an orchard they helped plant so long ago, in another time. I am right there with them. Crunch. Crunch.

And then I wonder about the Cathedral Palace orchard in the Realm of Faerie and Melia munching on her golden apple in Half Faerie … the influence wasn't conscious… and yet re-reading the scene in Prince Caspian,  I love the image of the wild and overgrown apple trees so much… certainly it must have been an offering from some deep trove of subterranean memory.

The other thing that's so fantastic about their return is the time play. The children find themselves in a place where they once matured into adulthood—became kings and queens—at a point in time that is well beyond their reign, and yet, they are once again children.

I mean how fantastic would it be to recapture your youth and retain the wisdom of age? To find the world you once lived in reclaimed by Nature? To live again, another life within a single one?

That is the magic of great fantasy, to send your mind soaring and fire your imagination like rocket fuel.

Itching for Books Reviews Tour

Billie's PINK Reviews Review & Image Montage
The Book Bag Review & Excerpt
The Booklicker Review & Excerpt

The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club Review & Dream Cast

Once Upon a YA Book Review

Bookworm Lisa~ Review
Reviewing in Chaos Review & Quote

Nazish Reads Review, Excerpt & Quotes

Shelves of Books Review & Dream Cast

Peace, Love and Fangirl Review & Quote
Book Marks the Spot Review

Book Hostage Review
Boarding with Books Review & Excerpt
Two-Tall-Tales Excerpt (Light)
A Backwards Story Excerpt (Dark)

Fangirling Dexter: The Psychology of Dexter

Since I've decided to fangirl Dexter on my blog, I feel kind of weird. The shows about a serial killer, you know. So I'm reading The Psychology of Dexter by Bella DePaulo Phd. I'm not sure it's helping. It's a collection of essays that were written post-Season 4. (No Dr. Evelyn Vogel insights.) Many of them focus on Dexter as a killer. UGH! That's not why I watch the show.

Finally, I get to an essay that zooms in on the issue's of Dexter's identity. His sense of self. His self-identity. It discusses how self-identity develops and it examines the development of Dexter's. Yeah. That's why I watch the show.

Two things in life fascinate me: Spirituality and Psychology. I guess that's why you find a post about Dexter following a post about The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe on my blog. I guess.

I'm super curious. I always have been. I'm fascinated by what makes people tick, including myself. Tick-tock.

I suspect that our spiritual beliefs and psychological realities are the two legs are psyches stand on. Even if we don't have spiritual beliefs, that is a spiritual belief.

Back to Dexter. The show is intensely psychological, offering a unique window into one man's psyche.

It works like this:

1. We see Dexter at work, the blood spatter expert.
2. We see Dexter interact in his personal relationships with his sister, his colleagues, and his victims. And of course with Harry's "ghost."
3. As the series evolves we became privy to the events in Dexter's life that make him who he is.
4. And yes, we see Dexter kill. Only killers of innocent people according to Harry's Code, unless things go awry.
5. Then we get that fabulous voice-over. Of it all.

The show wouldn't work without the voice-over. I've read a few of the books in the series, and no offense to Jeff Lindsay, but the TV show took an interesting idea and blew it out of the water. All the main characters in the show are in the books, but Dexter is a decidedly more disturbing character in the books. Just sayin. I stopped reading the books.

So it's the voice-over that makes the show, not the killing. My opinion. We see Dexter's mask, and how he creates it. We see what his mask hides, how disturbing that is, and perhaps, if we are inclined to believe, the plausible roots of his psychopathy. The voice-over, along with Michael C. Hall's impeccable acting and delivery, are what engages us. Okay, what engages me.

Dexter is constantly concerned with his identity. He's often confused by social expectations. Most don't seem to make a lot of sense to him, and they seem like a lot of bother. But Harry, his foster-dad, taught him that he needed to appear normal because he isn't normal. Harry and Dexter's relationship is very dark, but it's all delivered with such intense genuineness, you can't help but be charmed. Okay, I couldn't helped but be charmed.

To say the personality of the character Dexter is a multiplicity of constructions is an understatement. The fascination is in how he processes, adapts, accepts, and reorients himself. The gems are his incisive insights on the  ever-present absurdities of the social condition.

Deb, Dexter's younger foster-sister, is his most enduring counterpoint. She doesn't see behind his mask… [no spoilers here!] So there is this kind of crazy normalcy contrasted with this off-the-charts insanity, and we get  Dexter's inner thoughts on it all. Quirky. Irresistible. Dark Humor.

And then Dexter evolves. Each season he has a particular social conundrum, a new role to take on. How he experiments, fails, succeeds, and resolves the season's particular perplexity is woven deep into the fabric of the show's plot, which always includes a Dexter nemesis and a big crime that the department is working on.

The brilliance is in how these threads come together—sans cliches, season after season. We, the viewer, are constantly surprised, amazed and gratified with how it's pulled off. And that voice-over. Dexter aka Michael C. Hall charms us in spite of ourselves. Ick. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? No answer.

Okay, that's a pretty long-winded justification of my guilty pleasure.

Fangirling Pick of the Week: Episode 8.04 Scar Tissue Wrap-Up Podcast The first 30 minutes of the podcast writer Tim Schlattman provides incredible insight into the writing process that created the series. [SPOILER ALERT]

Re-reading The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

I'm re-reading The Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis. It's an interesting experience because I read the book for the first time so many years ago—before my spiritual journey had truly begun. And though I was exposed to my family's religious beliefs as a young child, a book on world religions also sat on my bookshelf. I remember rifling through its pages, enthralled by images of worshippers from all over the world devoted to entities with exotic names.

So for me, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe is a great story. Edmund is beastly, Aslan is noble, and more than anything, I still long to meet animals who speak. But I've never had a wardrobe in any of my homes so I suspect my chances are slim.

Re-reading the book, I'm impressed by its pacing, simplicity, and fun. How could I have forgotten Mrs. Beaver?

Older now, and farther down the road on my spiritual journey, I realize that for all my seeking, my core beliefs haven't changed much. I still believe there is something numinous on this planet, it's essence unalterable, a mystery to be discovered and explored. And I'm still hesitant to adopt any of the names it has been given.

That is why Melia, the main character in Daughter of Light series, doesn't place her faith in things written. She possesses a point of view that by naming we might also be limiting.

That numinous thing on the planet.

And it would never serve to make it less than it is.