Hamnet And Grief
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about Hamnet and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this heart-wrenching movie based on the book by Maggie O’Farrell about the life of the WIFE of William Shakespeare, you might wish to skip this post.
I recently watched Hamnet and wowsers, I think this is the best movie dealing with grief I’ve ever watched. It is definitely a three hanky watch.
One of the things that makes it so good, so touching is…much of the movie is happy. We see and feel the happiness, the love, the building of hope.
The main character, Anne, Shakespeare’s wife, has a realistic, some might say rather cynical view on life. She doesn’t expect much from life or from other people.
This changes throughout the movie. She begins to hope. She forms connections with other people, with the community. She laughs. She smiles. Joy surrounds her.
Then she experiences a great tragedy and that hard-found hope is yanked away from her.
She is sad, of course. We often talk about the sadness with loss.
But she is also angry, really, really angry. And that is a part of grief also.
As is the feeling of isolation, the feeling we are grieving alone, that the rest of the world has moved on and forgotten yet we haven’t and we don’t ever want to.
The answer to this isolation in the movie is brilliant. That answer and Anne’s reaction to it made me cry even harder than the initial tragedy.
This is a great movie to watch right before writing the dark moment, the big make-the-reader cry moment in your romance novel.
But have some tissues on hand when you do this!
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Throwback Thursday – Baring Grudge
I love explosions (in books)! Big Badda Boom! They are glorious.
And in Baring Grudge, both the cyborg hero and the human heroine love them also. Explosives are their specialties and together, these two ARE explosive.
(grins)
Baring Grudge
No one in the universe is more determined than a cyborg warrior tracking his female.
***
Grudge, a C Model cyborg, has been assigned a mission – safeguard a Humanoid Alliance space station for his kind. Honor was once all he had, and he is determined to fulfill his duty.
That resolve is tested when a tiny human female enters the space station and sets the prettiest little explosives the warrior has ever seen. She is Grudge’s genetic match, the one being manufactured for him. He wants to touch her, kiss her, claim her in all ways, but first he has to stop her from blasting him into the next galaxy.
Taelyn has a self-appointed mission—to destroy every battle robot the Humanoid Alliance has ever manufactured. A huge gray-skinned, blue-eyed cyborg warrior with mismatched arms won’t prevent her from achieving her goal. She’ll escape him, leaving destruction in her wake.
Before she departs, she’ll experience one toe-curling moment of hatred-edged passion with her handsome foe. She’ll show him how skilled with detonations she truly is. He will have his universe rocked.
Then she’ll disappear.
Her cyborg, however, has no intention of ever letting her go.
***
Baring Grudge is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a determined, damaged warrior, an equally resolute human female, and an explosive game of predator and prey played across galaxies.
Baring Grudge is the third of five core stories in the Rebel Cyborgs Series.
Book 1: Containing Malice
Book 2: Under Strain
Book 3: Baring Grudge
Book 4: B Free
Book 5: Seizing Power
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZL2D986
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08ZL2D986
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B08ZL2D986
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/baring-grudge/id1559566673
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/baring-grudge
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1075600
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Gardening – Lovage – A Possible New Perennial
Every year, the Dear Wonderful Hubby and I strive to add one perennial to our gardens.
Last year, it was mint (in containers that we overwinter outside).
This year, it is lovage.
This is a new-to-me herb.
It supposedly tastes like celery, which intrigues me as we use a lot of celery in soups and celery can be challenging to find and expensive to buy in our portion of the universe.
It is also supposedly okay with the cold, is rodent resistant (hopefully this includes squirrels), and once established, it doesn’t require a lot of water or care.
All these things appealed to me. I’m SUCH a lazy gardener. (grins)
Have you ever grown lovage?
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Investments Anyone Can Make
I believe in investing in the future, preparing, putting something away that I can benefit from later.
Wait! This isn’t a financial post. Money is tight. I get it. Stars, do I get it!
The fact that we automatically link investing to money is a bit sad.
Because there are a gazillion types of perhaps even more valuable investing we can do.
That free article you read about how trees communicate?
THAT is an investment.
You’re investing in your brain, in your mental database of facts, and that is priceless because it is yours to keep (depending on how good your memory is). No one can repossess that information.
That container of mint you’re growing on your windowsill?
THAT is an investment.
It could supply you with mint…forever. (Because mint is nearly impossible to kill.) It could give you something to trade (the mint harvest) if times get tough. Studies also show tending to plants extends your life and reduces your stress. That is a great investment.
That coffee break you spent with a friend?
THAT is an investment.
You are maintaining valuable connections. You are giving and receiving love. You are reducing your stress and adding joy to your life and both of these are shown to help us live longer.
There are so many little investments we can make today that will ‘pay off’ later.
Invest in your life today!
Topics: Cyn-Sights | Comments Off on Investments Anyone Can Make
Muse Food – Other Escape Routes
Your characters are trapped.
The doors are blocked. The windows are sealed tight. Danger is all around them.
If they don’t escape soon, they’ll die.
Look down. Is there drainage they can fit into?
Look up. Is there a ventilation shaft they can navigate?
Spaces are often designed for air and water to pass through them. These systems could be escape routes for your characters.
Or you could always give your characters a bomb of some kind and blow sh*t up.
That’s fun also.
(grins)
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Cynthia Sax Weekly Update – May 31
The weather is gorgeous so I’m taking a break from writing to do outdoor things like gardening and sipping lemonade on the front steps, watching the bees and the butterflies, relaxing.
(smiles)
Have a wonderful week, my friends. (big hugs) Take some time, if you can, to watch the bees and the butterflies also. Sip a cool drink. Wave at neighbors. Listen to the birds sing.
This world is amazing. Savor it!
Cyborg Sizzle Escape Omnibus
Half Man. Half Machine. All Theirs.
* * *
While these cyborg warriors battle to escape their cruel manufacturers, they find the human females they are destined to love for all eternity.
This omnibus includes the first seven stories in the Cyborg Sizzle series: Releasing Rage, Breathing Vapor, Being Green, Crash And Burn, Defying Death, Chasing Mayhem and Jumping Barrel.
All of these Cyborg Romances are set in a dark, gritty, often violent universe.
Releasing Rage
Rage, the Humanoid Alliance’s most primitive cyborg, has two goals–kill all of the humans on his battle station and escape to the Homeland. The warrior has seen the darkness in others and in himself. He believes that’s all he’s been programmed to experience.
Until he meets Joan.
Breathing Vapor
Vapor is the most advanced cyborg the Humanoid Alliance has ever developed. He’s a finely honed weapon, a warrior without parallel, half man and half machine. No lock can contain him. No being can stop him. Whatever he wants, he takes.
He wants Mira Breazeal, the Designer’s daughter.
Being Green
Green, a cyborg warrior, cares for one being—his plant Windy. When Windy becomes sick, he’ll do anything to heal her, even venture across the universe to visit a worlds-renowned plant doctor.
He doesn’t expect to find love.
Crash And Burn
Crash was manufactured to be one of the best warriors in the universe. The cyborg has spent many human lifespans fighting the enemy. But, unlike his battle-loving brethren, he doesn’t enjoy killing. When he escapes the Humanoid Alliance, he vows to never end another life.
Then he meets Safyre, an infuriating human female, and he considers breaking his vow.
Defying Death
Cyborgs don’t show emotion. Death learned that lesson early in his long lifespan. To survive, he hides his fierce passions behind a stoic wall. He calls no warrior friend. He never admits to caring for any being.
Even the human female he’s destined to love.
Chasing Mayhem
Mayhem has spent his lengthy lifespan obeying the Humanoid Alliance’s rules. Finally free from their cruel control, the cyborg warrior plans to cause chaos. He infiltrates a remote settlement, provokes the savage locals until they want him dead, and allows himself to be captured by the sexiest little Retriever he has ever laid his mechanically-enhanced eyes on.
Jumping Barrel
Barrel requires an Expert for the Tau Cetian orphans. He’s looking for a female who is willing to commit to a lifespan-long role, who is comfortable with moving off planet, and who, preferably, has the ability to speak the offsprings’ first language.
His female, however, is looking for a hero.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S
Amazon Canada:
https://www.amazon.ca/Cyborg-Sizzle-Escape-Omnibus-Continuum-ebook/dp/B081VFHF1S
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/cyborg-sizzle-escape-omnibus/id1488934271
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/cyborg-sizzle-escape-omnibus
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/992060
Topics: Cynthia Sax Weekly Update | Comments Off on Cynthia Sax Weekly Update – May 31
Do You LOVE It?
I once read a study that revealed
the more we use an object
the more emotionally attached we become to it.
I have a t-shirt I’ve worn at least once a month for many decades. It wasn’t anything special when I first received it. But now it is soft and worn and I love it. I love it so much I’ve repaired it a couple times.
If I had bought that t-shirt (I didn’t) and I had known I’d be wearing it hundreds of times (I didn’t), I would have put more thought into which t-shirt I purchased.
I think of this t-shirt whenever I make a purchase.
Is there a possibility I’ll be wearing or using the purchase multiple times?
If yes, do I LOVE it?
Or is there a different object I’d love more?
Surround yourself with things you love, my friend.
And then cherish those things for as long as possible.
Topics: Cyn-Sights | Comments Off on Do You LOVE It?
Troll And Seeing Romance Where It Isn’t Shown
Spoiler Alert – This post will talk about the Netflix movie Troll and it WILL contain spoilers. If you haven’t yet watched this fun and surprisingly good monster film, you might wish to skip this post.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I watched Troll on a lark. We saw Troll 2 had released and figured it must have been good or enjoyable enough to warrant a sequel.
My friends, it was both. It was fun and fantastical and emotionally deep in places. The characters were interesting and well developed. The expected army guy? He had depth and humor and was extremely likable.
It was also a Norwegian film, which made it even more fun, because characters switched between languages often and fluidly. (It had English subtitles.) And the scenery was gorgeous.
Did Troll have romance?
No. Not on the screen.
As a romance reader and writer, however, I saw how romantic relationships could form between certain characters and I was pairing (and more) characters up during the entire movie.
Troll will definitely inspire some future stories from me.
(smiles)
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Throwback Thursday – Under Strain
Under Strain is set on a super cool DINOSAUR planet.
I LOVE dinosaurs!
(smiles)
And I love Strain and Kamyelle.
Kamyelle, a small human female, is determined to rescue Strain, a huge cyborg warrior, not knowing he doesn’t want or need to be rescued.
Physically.
He very much needs rescuing in another way.
Under Strain
A damaged cyborg warrior is hunted by a peace-loving human female.
***
Strain is severely malfunctioning. The D Model cyborg was the sole survivor after a horrific decision was made by his cruel manufacturers. He hates all humans, and when he attacks one who is under his cyborg leader’s protection, he is reprimanded, stripped of his weapons, and told to watch and not actively participate in the next mission.
That mission takes place on a small remote planet. Its lush terrain should only be inhabited by the cyborgs they were sent to rescue, but Strain senses another presence on the surface. She is watching him, tracking him, hunting him.
A fully operational cyborg would end her lifespan.
Strain wants to claim her. Forever.
Kamyelle is the only one left of her kind. Warriors have killed the other nonviolent human inhabitants of her planet. She survived…barely…by hiding in the trees, observing her enemies, and covering herself with lifeform scan-concealing mud.
When a handsome, gray-skinned, brilliant-blue-eyed male arrives, surrounded by weapon-carrying warriors, she has to save him. Warriors harm and they kill. That is what they do.
She won’t allow them to hurt Strain.
***
Under Strain is a STANDALONE Cyborg SciFi Romance set in a dark, gritty, sometimes-violent universe.
It features a broken warrior, a human female who thinks he’s perfect, and velociraptor-like dinosaurs who view them both as light, tasty snacks.
Buy Now:
Amazon US:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon UK:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R322L7S
Amazon AUS:
https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B08R322L7S
Apple Books:
https://books.apple.com/us/book/under-strain/id1545957749
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/under-strain
Smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/10602
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Garden Layouts Aren’t Set In Stone
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I are investing in quite a few new-to-us perennials this season.
Perennials need a semi-permanent place in the garden (they CAN be moved but it sets back their growth and is a pain in the a$$ to do). Which means we have to rearrange our rather small backyard.
We’re moving the leaf mold cages to the side of the house that gets very little sun and nothing much grows there. This won’t hurt the leaf mold production and it will free up those sunnier spaces for growing vegetables.
(smiles)
Garden layouts aren’t set in stone, my friends.
Well, unless you literally set them in stone. And even those can be changed if you’re very strong and/or have a sledge hammer.
(grins)
Change them when your requirements change.
Topics: Gardening | Comments Off on Garden Layouts Aren’t Set In Stone
