Action packed weekend in T-town

As many of you know I was on my way to Toronto this weekend with my pal Sarah to attend the launch party for the book my short story was published in. The book, Making It in High Heels 2. The journey began on Sunday morning at 5am.

Here we are at Toronto's Pearson Airport and are pumped about what the plans for the next few days would be.

We checked -in to the Hilton across the street from the airport.

And marveled at the strange set up of the room. The beds were placed back to back in the center of the room. We each had our own TV. Sweet! We unpacked an got ready for our first adventure. We had bought tickets online for a haunted house tour of the Power House. The Power House is an old building that provided the power for a psychiatric ward in the 1930's. It was also were they had performed electro-shock therapy on their many disturbed patients. It is believed to be one of the most haunted buildings in all of Toronto. It's hard to see in the picture but there is a huge smoke stack in front of the building which adds to it's creepiness. We couldn't take any videos or pictures inside so we made a video before and after we entered.

We entered the building after one of the workers gave us chilling accounts of strange things that had happened while they had been setting everything up. He also told us about the history of the building. Sarah and I were pumped! Woot! Woot!

Ahem...for those of you who don't know, this is Sarah's scared face. LOL!

Any-who, we entered the building and a woman's torso that was propped up on a table informed us to not touch anything or else she couldn't keep the evil spirits from touching us. The bottom half of her was mutilated and stretched out on the floor below her, under the table. Awesome! We continued on and in a clear glass box was a little boy in a hospital gown, shaking, and begging us to let him out. Creepy and awesome all at the same time! On we went and turn after turn I was startled out of my mind. The actors, uh, I mean undead psyc-patients would pop out of nowhere scaring us into screaming, swearing, and uncontrollable scared fits of laughter.

These people had thought of everything. There were zombies, vampires, chainsaw packing lunatics, mental patients screaming as if they were still being tortured, deformities, torture chambers where the tortured screamed for help as the torturers chased us with knives. There was even a clown section. We entered a chamber and walked across a bridge as a circle tunnel of blackness and flashing lights circled around the bridge. It was so disorienting I had to touch the railing to make sure the bridge wasn't moving. Uber amazing! We ended up outside in a maze of a corn field where we relived the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We ran as a masked lunatic with a roaring chainsaw chased us as we screamed and laughed ourselves silly. A woman was grouped together with Sarah and I. While Sarah and I wanted to go through the house slowly this woman kept pushing us forward, we tried to let her pass us many times but she never wanted to be first. Pffftt! CHICKEN! Lol! At times the fog was so thick in places we couldn't see four feet in front of us, allowing for murders to just pop out of virtually nowhere to scare us. We walked through a haunted rain forest were we had to duck out of the way to avoid touching spiders, vines and dead things.

We had so much fun! Here is the after video:

They even had a pimped out hearse.

It was totally worth the inflated cab fare it took to get to the Power House. Didn't help that our cab driver took a wrong turn. He even had a GPS. What gives?

I can't wait till Halloween.

Stay tuned. Next post shall be the launch party the following day.

Peace out!!

I'm never lending my children--I mean-- books out again

For those of you who don't know, I am a very cheery, optimistic, and happy woman. The last post and this next one might have you thinking differently. But, know that I am not myself when someone abuses my cherished books. I've cooled down a bit now. I'm somewhere between mad and in a funk. Let me explain why.

Anyone who loves books like I do will understand my current issue. I lent a friend one of my books.

Now I know what you're thinking. "But Stella, it'll be okay. I'm sure they will treat your book with as much love as you do. They might even let it sleep with them if it has nightmares."

Well THEY DIDN'T!!

I was mad!!

They cracked the spine not once, no, no, no, that could have been a mere accident, yes it could have. They, however, cracked it twice, TWICE! They dog-eared the pages as well. The corners have suffered wear and tear they had never been subjected to in my care. If someone lends you something, you are to return it to them in the same condition it was trusted to you in! Errrrgggg!!!

They...they...they...I say "they" like it is synonymous with deadbeat, slob, and murderer.

Yes, they...

To make matters worse this is not just some book I can just waltz down to the local book store and pick up a brand new shinny copy of. No, my friends. This is an out of print book that I've cherished for the last eighteen years of my life. It is this book that I read at a very young age that had aided (along with other movies, books, and music) me in discovering what my future tastes, writing style, and opinions would be. Looking back I can see how this book had changed me from my soother wearing peers at the time. Don't pretend like you don't remember that whole soother wearing craze TLC brought in. Still drawing a blank are we? Check out the video below if your memory needs a refresher.

Now where was I...ah yes! THEY!!!

THIS is a crime so terrible...

...it deserves a chalk outline.

I must leave you now and mourn my book. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty's little know masterpiece known as Ms. Tree. I shall enlighten you soon. But for now, I must plot my revenge.

Kidding...ha ha ha...just kidding!

Or am I?

Duh da DAH!!!!!!

Nevermore

So recently I’ve had the misfortune of reading a certain series of books. Thankfully there are only two books in this series right now, so I didn’t have to read more. Before I continue there is something you should all know about me. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m trying to become an author, I know, I know, I’m a masochist. I am currently in the process of editing my first manuscript called “The Male Amendment”. Revising and editing is hard work and when I need a break, I either workout or read a book. I told you I was a masochist, didn’t I?

Anyways, when I read while editing I look for books that are page turners, that are effortless to read, who’s main character I like, and that can be a sort of escape for me. This has lead me to mainly the middle grade fiction genre. Now the following review is not a reflection of the genre it’s self but of these novels in particular.

For those of you thinking “Sheesh! What did you expect?”

My answer is, “More damn it. More!”

I've recently read the “Evermore” series by Alyson Noel. Lets begin with the first book shall we? “Evermore” the name brings thoughts of eternity to mind. That’s definatly appropriate for these books.

The book opens up with a girl who can’t stand the touch of others because since the car accident that claimed her family she has been able to hear people’s thoughts. The slightest touch of another person gives Ever (the MC) a glimpse into that persons mind and life. I loved it!


Ever could see spirits. She conversed daily with her dead sister. All was fine and dandy until a new student shows up at school one day. Of course he's hot, rich, mysterious, and her ability to hear the thoughts of others goes away when she is near him. Score!!! Of course, he is prince charming, an immortal prince charming. Instead of chugging back some red bull, this immortal, Damen, has his own homemade ‘immortal juice’ that is the source of his immortality…yep…that’s what they named it ‘immortal juice’. Don’t give me that look, I didn’t name it.

Misunderstandings ensue, of course, but all-in-all this was shaping out to be a pretty good book. Until, the end. The final conflict was so anti-climatic I had though I had missed a chapter. Then another conflict arose at the end which was resolved in a pretty lame way. Because of it’s lameness or lack of tension the end felt a bit blasé to me. But I’d give it 6 stars out of 10. Not bad!


But then, a sequel was written called “Blue Moon”. Hopes for a pleasant read were dashed against repetitive descriptions, stupid moves by the MC, and a recycled plot twist that one of my favorite T.V. shows used years ago.

If I could count the number of times an eye roll was used in this book, I’d be sure to win a Purple Heart…except that I’m Canadian of course. Each time I read these two words “eye roll” I literally cringed as if I’d been wounded in some battle of pitiable narrative. I found it hard to even concentrate on the story when I read these words. They were like eye sores, un-ignorable unless I gouged my eyes out. They were like speed bumps littered through out the novel for me to trip over, each one pulling me out of the story, and just when I had forced myself back into the story, another one popped up. Erg!!!

If that weren’t bad enough a character the MC hasn’t trusted for the entire book, the guy who tries to kill the love of her life, tells Ever (the MC) that he had made a mistake. She falls for it!! She falls for it!! Is she from Mars? Erg!!! The MC is now a screen saver to me, looks good, but useless!

Then the final blow. At the very end of this book, because Ever is an idiot and it’s all her fault, Ever and Damen cannot touch each other or else Damen will die. Wait just one second now. That sounds a lot like the twist for the second season of Dark Angel. While this book showed promise--like when Ever has to choose between changing her past to save her family from dying, or saving Damen’s life--it ultimately sucked. I give this book 4 stars out of 10. It made me want to retch (see picture).

The only thing that could make me feel better was pulling out my foam-missle gun! I shall sleigh the horrid book with this mighty weapon! Bwahahahahahahahaha! Ha...ha...Ahem!


So, that's my book review. Bad books make Stella mad!

Making it in High Heels 2

It's officially out. Woot woot!! Pick up a copy and let me know what you think. I am officially published!! I shall also be attending the launch party in Toronto on October 27th. I shall be chatting with the media and shall hopefully not make a spectacle of myself. Perhaps I shall pull a Kanye West. "The Da Vinci Code was the best book of all time, of all time!" ROFL!! Then Dan Brown shall walk out of the building and say, "Mmmmm hmmm that's right! Chumps!" just like Beyonce really wanted to say. Ha ha! Ahem! Anyways...

Buy the book at Chapters or Amazon (This is for the Canadians out there. I think Amazon has the better deal though):

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/search?keywords=making%20in%20in%20high%20heels%202&pageSize=10

http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&tag=flipkartcom0b-20&field-keywords=making+it+in+high+heels+2+kimberlee+macdonald

Buy the book at Amazon (This is for the Americans out there):

http://www.amazon.com/Making-High-Heels-Future-Leaders/dp/1897404174/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252856957&sr=8-1