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Corrupted Enchantment: When Fairy Tales Collide

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Screen Shot 2019-09-29 at 3.57.29 PMFans of Once Upon A Time will be obsessed with this series!

WHEN FAIRY TALES COLLIDE
Welcome to Enchantia, where all your favorite fairy tale characters live happily ever after… That is, until a dark spell takes over the land. 

Robin Hood: Everyone at school seemed to be scared of me. What? Had they never met someone who’d been in jail before? Whatever. I liked it that way. I didn’t need friends. I just needed to be left alone so I could get back to what I was supposed to be doing… Stealing from the rich to give to the poor. Something was getting in the way of my usual goal though. There seemed to be a spell looming about, and I knew exactly who was responsible for it– Presidential candidate, Rumpelstiltskin. 
There was also the Peter Pan problem. Now that I was back, I could tell he wanted to approach me, but there was nothing he could have done to make me forgive him. He could bat his pretty little eyes all he wanted. The ultimate betrayal wasn’t something I took lightly.

Rumpelstiltskin: I didn’t care what the three fates said about that filthy little brat, Robin Hood, being my undoing. I would spill her blood to change that destiny. Now that I had the power of the Presidency in my palms, I wouldn’t let anything stop me from achieving what I set out to do.

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C. Penticoff

Screen Shot 2019-09-29 at 3.58.10 PMC. Penticoff has always considered herself a dreamer in a world with a million opportunities.

She recalls her dream of being an author starting at the ripe age of nine years old, when a published author visited her school and empowered her to reach for the stars. It was then she realized her ability to write a great story could be something that made her shine in a world full of bright lights.

C. Penticoff began writing her first full length novel when she was 12 years old, and finally published the new and improved story September of 2017.

C. Penticoff lives in the Pacific Northwest with her two sons and husband. They are in the process of building a tiny home for their family.

Connect with C. Penticoff!

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Medieval Monday: Executioner

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What Was It Like to Be an Executioner in the Middle Ages?

by: Emma Bryce

Forget the image of the hooded executioner swinging an ax; much of what we think we know about these medieval figures isn’t true.

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One afternoon in May 1573, a 19-year-old man named Frantz Schmidt stood in the backyard of his father’s house in the German state of Bavaria, preparing to behead a stray dog with a sword. He’d recently graduated from “decapitating” inanimate pumpkins to practicing on live animals. If he passed this final stage, Schmidt would be considered ready to start his job, as an executioner of people.

We know the details of this morbid scene because Schmidt meticulously chronicled his life as an executioner, writing a series of diaries that painted a rich picture of this profession during the sixteenth century. His words provided a rare glimpse of the humanity behind the violence, revealing a man who took his work seriously and often felt empathy for his victims. But what’s more, Schmidt wasn’t necessarily all that unusual; historical anecdotes reveal that the prevailing stereotype of the hooded, blood-spattered, brutish executioner falls far short of the truth.

So then, what was it like to do this work hundreds of years ago in Europe? And how did “executioner” become a legitimate job title in the first place?

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Use the Medieval Monday Index to discover other topics relating to daily life in the Middle Ages.

Medieval Monday: Bizarre Trends

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12 Bizarre Medieval Trends

by: Frances White

From pigs on trial to hairless faces, discover what went viral in the Middle Ages.

Every age has a tendency to look back at older generations and judge the customs, beliefs and traditions of the time. However, it is fair to say that there are few periods in history that we regard as strangely as we do the Middle Ages.

The Middle Ages have been stamped an unlucky time to be born and popular consensus is that people were poor, food was dull, everything was dirty, and for the vast majority of it the population was dropping like flies. What we don’t hear about is that people created some of the most peculiar, bizarre, hilarious and astounding trends in human history. Let’s take some time to embrace the medieval period and all of its lovable eccentricities.

1. Animal court

Life in medieval times could be tough, and this didn’t just apply to humans. Just like their two-legged owners, all manner of animals from livestock to insects were put on trial if suspected of breaking the law. There are records of at least 85 animal trials that took place during the Middle Ages and the tales vary from the tragic to the absurd, as described in the book “The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals,” by E. P. Evans (E. P. Dutton and Company, 1906).

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By far the most serial offenders were pigs, accused and convicted of chewing off body parts and even eating children. Most were found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging or being burned at the stake. In 1386, a convicted pig was dressed in a waistcoat, gloves, drawers and a human mask for its execution.

It wasn’t just pigs that felt the sting of the law, though, In 1474 a court found a rooster guilty of the “unnatural crime” of laying an egg; unwanted rats often found themselves on the receiving end of a strongly worded letter, asking them to leave the premises; and curiously enough, there was a trial of dolphins in Marseilles in 1596.

However, not all of the trials ended in brutality. One donkey, which found herself the victim of unwanted sexual advances, was proclaimed innocent after a strong recommendation from a convent’s prior, declaring her to be a virtuous and well-behaved animal.

Continue reading…

Use the Medieval Monday Index to discover other topics relating to daily life in the Middle Ages.

Inspiration Sunday

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Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:2-4

New Release: World of Nightmares

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Who loves the story Nightmare Before Christmas? Well today we are featuring a New Release by Karen DuBose. She is taking a classic tale and doing her own spin on it. Check it out below and make sure to grab a copy.

69511383_396530847716051_777544730190807040_nWorld of Nightmares

Shady Oak Series

When you live in a world of what nightmares are made of, you wonder to yourself, could there be more?
Being the king is no easy task. Ask Jax he will tell you all about it. He is after all the Pumpkin King of Halloweenville who loves to scare people.

Lately, Jax has been getting bored wondering if there is more to the world; he lives in. He used to enjoy scaring everyone. Now though it feels more like a job than actually having fun, even the kids laugh and ask him to do it again.

Little does he know there is a much bigger world out there than the world of nightmares. One he will never forget anytime soon. Stepping into Shady Oaks has changed him forever. Something he never thought would ever happen.

Let’s not forget Boogie. He is mean and powerful. He is always trying to find ways to make Jax suffer for something he never did. That is, until things take a turn for the worse. Being a king doesn’t always make you invisible.

With everything going on, Jax’s heart was stolen by Shayla. The one person Jax is scared to be around for too long. He doesn’t want to scare her away. Showing his feelings is not something he is used to, and he doesn’t want them to shine through, causing her to run from him.

Things change to fast for Jax to get a grip on things and to make matters worse. He can’t protect the one person he loves more than life itself. With some powerful help from Shady Oaks, it may be the only way to save his world from the darkness that is slowly killing his world. That is until the darkness finds its way to Shady Oaks.

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Karen DuBose

unnamed (1)What’s Crackin’? My name is Karen DuBose. I write fantasy and dark fantasy romance novels. I have 5 books out currently. Book 6 will be out in September and I’m working on edits for book 7. I have one complete series out. The Elder Series. It’s about shifters, witches, fae, elves, and seers. I have 2 stand alone for a series called the Shady Oaks. Wailing waters that is a dark twist on the little mermaid and World of Nightmares is my dark twist on The Nightmare Before Christmas. That one will be out in September. Tainted Magic is the one I’m doing edits for now. It’s the second book in The Light Realm Series. Untainted Magic is the first book.
When I’m not writing or editing. I work my 2 day jobs. One I’m a postal worker and the other I’m an inventory specialist. They take up a lot of my time, but that’s ok. It let’s me do a lot of book signings. I love meeting old and new fans. They are the reason I write. I take pride in my work. It warms my heart when they are waiting for the next book to come out. Interacting with fans is the highlight of my day.
A lot of people have asked me about my writing style. I really don’t have one. What comes to mind is what I write. I don’t plot or outline. The only thing I really do is make a spread sheet for my characters. I have way too many to remember them by heart. I write their descriptions down who know who and so on. I know what the ending of the book is or close to it. Getting there is the fun part. I let the characters do there thing.
My support group is amazing. My husband Steven, my mom Lois and her husband Charles, my sister Cindy, and of course my fans. They are behind me in my crazy world 100%. The first book I wrote. I was nervous about. What if people hate it, what if they make fun of me? Yes, all authors feel this way. Even with their 30th book published. Every book I publish there is self-doubt. The what ifs. I push through them every time and I’m glad I do. I love to create worlds people can get lost in. Even if it’s only for a little while.
I’ve also been asked what my favorite snack and drink is while I’m writing. White Monsters (Energy Drink) and I don’t really snack. I forget most of the time to eat while I’m writing. The must things I have to have is my monster and music. I’m a happy go lucky woman.

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Author Spotlight with Janet Grunst

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Happy Saturday everyone. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Today I am featuring an Author Spotlight on Historical Romance author Janet Grunst. Check out her story below. Hope you enjoy.

Janet Grunst

Janet GrunstI live in the historic triangle of Virginia (Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown) so you might think that is what sparked my interest in reading and writing historical fiction. Reading historical fiction began as a child, but the motivation to write it didn’t come until much later and getting published was a thirty-one-year endeavor which makes me a poster child for perseverance.

In the 80’s I was a stay-at-home mom in northern Virginia, with columns in two local papers. It was fun but I began to think there was something more I should be doing with my writing efforts. A story kept forming in my mind, so I explored writing fiction. With two little boys at home and no knowledge of what writing for the fiction market entailed, my work was cut out for me. I asked God if He would give me two or three hours a day to write if I would faithfully put it aside to care for my family? Sensing His confirmation, I began researching and studying the craft of writing fiction.

The story germinating in my mind was set in the 18th century required extensive research. This was pre-internet days, so it meant visiting libraries. The more I researched, the more subplots developed. At times it was a challenge to quit studying and get down to writing. I asked for God’s direction and He faithfully furnished it and I kept my pledge to leave my writing den and care for my little ones. A girlfriend and my husband read each chapter after it was completed and their encouragement kept me on task to complete more chapters. When it was complete they encouraged me to seek publication.

Researching publishing companies, writing and submitting queries, synopsis’s, and proposals required a different skillset. Many submissions and rejections followed but I continued to send it out. Trilogies were popular in the early 90’s so in the fall of 1992 I started writing the sequel.

But in 1993, my husband left, requiring me to return to full-time employment to raise my sons. My writing was put aside for many years. I eventually remarried, retired, and relocated to Williamsburg, VA. My new husband encouraged me to keep writing and to again pursue publication.

The Christian publishing world had changed dramatically by 2010. I needed an agent and a social media platform, so I joined the American Christian Fiction Writers, attended conferences, became a contributor to Colonial Quills, got on Facebook and created a website. I still had a lot to learn about writing fiction so the editing continued.

The publishing world was evolving. Ebooks had gained in popularity and bookstores were closing. Publishers were also undergoing changes including closing fiction lines. It was getting harder for unpublished writers to get contracts. 

My agent submitted the manuscript to publishers but to no avail. I was discouraged. She mentioned Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas (LPC) was taking a chance on unpublished writers and enjoying some success.

In December of 2015, thirty years after writing that story, I received a contract for A Heart Set Free. It received the Selah Award for Historical Romance in 2017. The sequel, A Heart For Freedom, was published in 2018 and received the 2019 Christian Indie Award for Historical Fiction. I’ve just signed a contract for the third and final story in the series. I’m also thrilled to be part of an LPC novella collection called The Highlanders which will be released in early November.

I learned a lot about myself through this long journey to publication and despite discouragement, grateful I didn’t give up. Do you have a pursuit you long to accomplish? Take heart, our timing is often different than God’s timing. Keep pursuing your goal and see where it takes you.

Connect with Janet!

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Janet’s Books

A HEART SET FREE

A HEART FOR FREEDOM

THE HIGHLANDERS