N.O.A. Rawle: Through the Eyes of a Stranger

At some point in time you may have mused on the romantic idea behind pirates, adventure on the high seas, stolen loot and buried treasure. Rie Sheridan Rose takes those romantic notions one step further in her fantasy novel Mutiny on the Moonbeam, published by Mocha Memoirs Press. When Branwyn St. Clair stands up to her step father and stows away aboard the Moonbeam, she doesn't realise that it will lead her to to a life of adventure and pirating. Johnny Pate, the only human on the elven crew tries to keep her safe, but there are forces working behind the scenes that bring them together in ways which even they can't imagine. Throughout her blog tour , Rie Sheridan Rose has elaborated on the characters and their inspiration and motivation. I didn't read any of it until I got to the end of the book and to writing this review - it's like watching the film before reading the book - for me that just won't do! The characters pull you in and drag you helter-skel...

Ahoy m' hearties! It is my honour that Rie Sheridan Rose, author, poet, lyricist and editor has decided to kick off her blog tour for her latest Fantasy Romance novel, 'Mutiny on the Moonbeam', right here on Through the Eyes of a Stranger. I've been lucky enough to have been granted a sneak preview and I can tell you the book's a fantastic read (but more on that in the coming week), so without further ado, let me hand over the reins! Why Do We Love Pirates? Long before Jack Sparrow took to the High Seas, readers (and viewers) have had a love affair with pirates. From Disney fare like “Blackbeard’s Ghost” to the swash-and-buckle of Errol Flynn, something about these buccaneers has captured the imagination. It’s not like real-life pirates were anything to romanticize. They robbed many a ship, killed more than their share of sailors, and probably lived a fairly filthy existence if we are honest about it. Still, they have wormed their way into the h...

So here's a ramble of the kind I don't do so often. I set 2019 as a purge year - no don't go thinking I've been running riot on the streets dressed in carnival costumes while I gleefully find ways of slaughtering everyone who so much as piqued my anger. I've been clearing out the physical cr*p in my life. I'm no fan of the KonMari method, but any fool can see that when your house is cluttered so is your life! My house is full of four generations of such clutter, not all of which I can dispose of. So, that means I've been clearing out stuff from my own past mostly, or at least re-ordering it. This in turn has lead me to contemplate everything I've done thus far, as well as all the places I've been and the people I've met. And I've been thinking about getting old - I'm at that stage and it's been in my mind more than ever. Now if you don't know me personally you probably won't know I'm the youngest in my family. My oldest s...

How's the summer (or winter for my friends from the southern hemisphere)? I'm clawing my way back into the blogging habit now that my day jobs are over for a while. Now we're into July, I'm a little late in telling you about 'Southern Steam: Tales from Port Reprieve', which is available from Amazon. My fellow steampunk authors at the Scribblers' Den and I have gotten together for our third anthology. This one is set around the world of Port Reprieve, the  brainchild of fellow anthology author and the founder of the Scribblers' Den, Jack Tyler, is a fictional port in the southern US. The content is as follows: Stars and Bars by Steve Moore The Stench Street Revs by William J. Jackson Hoodwinked by N. O. A. Rawle The Aeronaut by Bryce Raffle Sea Story by Jack Tyler Now this was quite a difficult challenge for me as I have never had the good fortune to visit the southern States, so I thought about what I knew best about this area and someth...

Spring touched Greece and I was trying to get into the rhythm of Monty Python (Always look on the bright side...)! Valentine's Day blew by me this year and I was feeling a little blue. Don't go imagining my my loved one had forgotten, we don't 'do' Valentine's as such (after all, love is for every day not just Valentine's). No, my sky-hued mood was down to my late submission of a few romantic horror drabbles I'd hoped would make it the Feb 14 deadline and as I'd heard nothing I was sure they hadn't been accepted. But I was wrong! 'Trembling With Fear' from the Horror Tree have accepted both drabbles I sent in their direction. Thankfully, with spring comes rain and then come the flowers! All kinds of blossoms like new love blooming in glorious abundance until the petals fall and the raspy husk is all that's left. Does it fall or become fruit? Does the love die or survive? All flowers have symbolic meanings. Take Forget Me No...

(This was supposed to be a New Year post!) It's been over five months since I posted here and there is many a reason for this. Most sincere is that I need time for my family. Needs must as the devil drives - and here in Greece the devil drives a very hard bargain these days, so I'm working long hours in my day jobs - thus what little free time I have goes to my babes (12, 13 & 40+), not writing. Braced for worse to come. Then it seems like everything is breaking: the cooker, the washing machine, my sewing machine, the toaster, my computer - bits are even falling off the house. I've written virtually nothing. Prices are rising. Taxes are impossible and wages are dropping as are hours of work. Even my phone company seems to be playing sneaky tricks. And dribble of drabbles is all I've come up with. Then there's the weather. Now I like a white Christmas as much as the next person but 2019 swung by and brought snow with thunder and lightning, then i...