#NewRelease “Whispers of a Southern Moon” by #PriscillaBettis #shortstories #poetry #faith #writingcommunity #mustread

I’m excited to have Priscilla Bettis here today to share her latest release, “Whispers of a Southern Moon.”

BLURB

An artistic, new collection of inspirational fiction and poetry by Priscilla Bettis.

Includes the award-winning story “Fix Your Face,” a “wonderful Southern Gothic piece akin to the work of Flannery O’Conner!”—Brooke Dreger, Editor, Solid Food Press

A simple man in rural Alabama risks his sanity to keep his sister alive. Lines of poetry celebrate the symphony of a Southern night. A sentient house deep in Virginia’s Great Dismal Swamp lures those it seeks to protect.

In Whispers of a Southern Moon, Priscilla Bettis intertwines short stories and poetry to create an inspirational collection of literary fiction and verse. Bettis explores questions about faith, love, and our perceptions of reality, and she does so with an elegant but fierce grip on the reader. This collection spans everything from Southern Gothic prose to Biblically inspired haiku. By the end of the collection, readers will be encouraged that even in the most twisted circumstances, God is present, and we are loved.

Amazon Purchase Link

My Review

“Whispers of a Southern Moon” is a beautiful faith-based collection of short stories and poetry. The stories take the reader on a journey where the message is that one is never alone, even in the darkest circumstances. It’s a well-balanced combination of entertainment and Christian reading. The poetry is lush and full of imagery and emotion connected to the stories. Many subjects are covered, like aging, inner beauty, addiction, relationships, reality, and Alzheimer’s, which offered a truth I could relate to. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but “Whispers of a Southern Moon” was a beautiful tale of an ex-dancer who never got over the loss of her family. The house felt like a character within the story. What made this more special was the author’s sharing of her personal journey of how she found and grew in her Christian faith. I can easily recommend this collection.

Author Bio

Priscilla Bettis is an avid reader and a joyful writer. Priscilla lives in small-town Texas with her two-legged and four-legged family members. She is a former secular horror author who now writes Christian short stories and poetry inspired by her awe of God and love for fellow human beings.

Find Priscilla on X (at PriscillaBettis) where she chats with others about life and writing.

Amazon Author Page

Twitter

July Book Reviews! #willowwillers #danantion #PTLPerrin #DawnPisturino #bookreviews #whattoread #writingcommunity

Here are the great books I read in June that were four stars and higher. Click on the book titles for the Amazon link.

Poetic Justice: A Rascal Todd Mystery Featuring Brody Thompson (Book 2 of 2: Rascal Todd Mystery)

by Dan Antion (Author), Willow Willers (Author)

Best-selling mystery author Brody Thompson is asked to help solve a real-life murder. Curious, Brody agrees to help Trevor figure out who killed his father and soon finds himself not only searching for a murderer but also in danger. After Trevor is attacked, Brody becomes more determined to find out what is going on. He runs across a character that held my attention or The Poet, who has been in hiding for years. The Poet communicates and leaves clues through poetry. Brody was a strong character who interacted with familiar characters from the past and met new ones, like Trevor’s mom. Journalist Rascal has a backup role in this story, but she is still there, along with her demanding kitty and the newsroom. The setting is woven nicely into the story, along with many delicious-sounding meals. I now want a pastry from the story. I found myself rooting for Brody and eager to find out more about The Poet. This can be a standalone read, but it’s nice to already be familiar with past characters. An engaging whodunit that had me guessing until the end.

Ancient Voices: Poems About Ancient Egypt

By Dawn Pisturino

“Ancient Voices” is a unique collection of poetry. Set in Ancient Egypt, each poem gives a glimpse into the lives of those who lived there. I could tell there was a lot of research that went into this collection and appreciated it. The fascinating setting provided both entertainment and learning. It’s hard to capture the essence of this book in a short review but here are three examples from the collection: “Love letter/buried in the sand/inscribed on stone/for eternal bliss…”—LOVE LETTERS, “Send me to my tomb with a blue lotus in my hair./My heart will dance with joy as I run through the Fields of Reeds,/Free of pain and disease. Limber as fallow deer, I will run,/Ecstatic in my youthfulness…”—THE BLUE LOTUS, and “I set out to write/The most beautiful poem in the world./Consulting the stars,/They quickly aligned/Into perfect letters of stardust/and cosmic dew…”—MOST BEAUTIFUL. A collection to be read more than once and one I can highly recommend.

Sanctum: Dragon Guild Book 1

By P.T.L. Perrin

I read and loved the Tetrasphere series and was thrilled to see the story continue with many returning characters set at a later date. Reading the previous series isn’t necessary as the author does a good job of bringing the readers into this world with beautiful settings and strong characters. Gabri, who was a baby at the end of Tetrasphere, is now almost sixteen years old. Something is after Gabri that her family and friends can’t protect her from, and is kidnapped and removed from all she loves. She finds herself on an unknown world imprisoned in a cold, damp cell by the enemy she calls the Shadow. Here her special abilities are gone and all she wants to do is go home. In the darkest of her moments, she gets unexpected help. This is an exquisitely described place where dragons co-exist with intelligent plants and there’s an ongoing battle between good and evil. Some questions are answered while others remain, and I can’t wait to continue the journey in the next story! A well-written YA fantasy that I can easily recommend.

Next week is the Creative Perspective Challenge Seven!

Embrace your inner child by reading a fantastic book! D. L. Finn (Denise)

#NewRelease! Gratitude & No Fairy Tale Just Her Poetry Book Three. #writingcommunity #poetry

I’m happy to announce I have a new poetry book available! I didn’t do my usual preorder this time and had no date set, just went with when it was ready.

This new collection is a blend of old and new. With my No Fairy Tale: The Reality of a Girl who wasn’t a Princess and her Poetry memoir no longer available, my poetry wasn’t either. These poems cover many years and became part two of Gratitude & No Fairy Tale. I updated two poems to make the message clearer and pulled a few that were more suited for the memoir. The rest are untouched and as they were. It wasn’t easy not updating the words to my current thinking but it was more honest to leave it as it was.

Part one is my newer poetry that I use now in my store and have included in calendars I gift at Christmas. I hope to put together a book with the color photos soon, but the black and white print is available now and more reasonably priced!

Blurb:

Explore D. L. Finn’s poetic journey, from her newest to earliest works. Part One immerses you in a combination of her photography and symbolic poems. Peaceful winter days, forests, and sunsets illuminate her search for the magic of life. Part Two retraces her journey from her first poems. Her life is revealed through free verse poems and photographs that were featured in her memoir, No Fairy Tale. She discovers gratitude on her path to happiness. Join her as she explores her reality through emotions and nature in this special collection.

Excerpt from Part One

I included the poem under the picture so it would be easier to read.

in between the storms

a beautiful day emerged

my time to rejoice

beautiful moment

scampers softly through my soul

a gift from heaven

AMAZON PURCHASE LINK US

AMAZON PURCHASE LINK UK

I am also pulling my books from Kindle Unlimited and going back to other markets through D2D. My older books are still migrating there from Smashwords. So this is a process. I am trying D2D for print but in the past have gone through Ingram. Always more to learn as a writer, isn’t there?

June Book Reviews! #PatSpencer #CindyGeorgakas #KathleenHarryman #MarinaOsipova #CSBoyack #AudreyDriscoll #whattoread #writingcommunity

Here are the great books I read in May that were four stars and higher. Click on the book titles for the Amazon link.

Oceanside: A Healing Place

By Pat Spencer

“Oceanside” is a short story that tackles a difficult subject, human trafficking. Although not too graphic it was brutally honest. A young girl meets an older man, and she keeps the relationship a secret from her family. He showers her with gifts until the worst thing that can happen does. This is something I think every parent should be talking about with their teens as these types of predators exist whether we want to think about it or not. It is a tough read, but it does offer kind people willing to help. I can easily recommend it

Celebrating Poetry

By Cindy Georgakas

“Celebrating Poetry” is a beautiful collection that touched my heart and inspired me. Although it is a companion book to “Re-Create and Celebrate” it wasn’t necessarily for me to have read it, but I sure will be now. There are many poems I loved, and more importantly, felt, and I chose a few that I highlighted to share here. “Plans change in mid flight,/like birds who move south for the winter./Keep your vision as you adapt to the elements/and nest in the new beginnings and endings…”—Plans Change, “There’s always been music perhaps,/I just didn’t hear the symphony in the background./There’s always been color, but maybe I was in a dark place and/never looked up to see…”—There’s Always Been Music, “Silence births unspoken words/longing to find a home,/where noise is drowned,/sitting quietly amongst the redwoods…”—Root Like the Redwood, and “I breathe in the morning as it breathes into me./Slowly, savoring the moment between sleep and wakefulness,/lingering in the pause…”—Morning Prayer. This was poetry I connected to in many ways and can easily recommend this for all poetry lovers!

The Other Side of the Looking Glass

By Kathleen Harryman

Kate wakes up in a hospital room unable to remember anything about her past. Soon she learns she’s married to a man she doesn’t feel anything for. Laim her husband is a character I grew to hate completely while feeling for Kate. I liked how it was told through more than one POV which made some of it chilling reading. Some twists completely surprised me, but I don’t want to give anything away. I rooted for Kate and loved her strength in the worst of situations. This was a hard book to put down because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. A great psychological thriller where murder is as easy as ordering a pizza, but with love weaved in there the unexpected happens. A story I can easily recommend.

BEELITZ-HEILSTÄTTEN: Where Ghosts Never Die

By Marina Osipova

A newly married woman’s tour of the hospital where she was born quickly turns into time travel. Marion ended up in Germany in 1918 at Beelitz-Heilstatten. With a bump on her head, she is taken into the nursing program to care mostly for soldiers. She mingles with the people of this time with ease but feels repulsion for one patient for good reason. Her thoughts of what to do with a pillow to that man would have crossed the mind of any person who has seen the outcome in modern times. There is a relationship she develops with a doctor who she is drawn to. The attention to historical details is the jewel of this story and made this a page-turner. The descriptions and setting made this feel very real at times to me. There was a twist that pulled the two times together in a way I didn’t see coming. I can’t say enough about the research that had to be involved in writing this but it certainly held my interest in one of our darkest historical times. A story I can easily recommend.

Run for the Roses (The Hat Book 8)

by C. S. Boyack

I love the Hat Series and always look forward to diving into this masterfully created world. Lizzie and the Hat mingle with some familiar faces and new ones. Lizzie is worried about paying the rent and bills and needs to work when the headless horseman asks for their help. It seems a witch is terrorizing the horses so she can pick the winning horse at the track. I immediately worried about the horses and hoped they would find the witch soon. As in all the stories, the humor is strong, especially between the Hat and Lizzie. That is a favorite part for me, along with the strong and flawed characters. Another story element to appreciate is how the music is woven in so naturally with the Hat as the manager of them. There’s a nod to a few missing bodies from the past that made me smile. Another great addition to the series that I read during a long plane flight, and it made the time speed by. This can be read as a standalone, but I do recommend going back and reading it from the beginning. It’s worth it!

She Who Comes Forth

By Audrey Driscoll

“She Who Comes Forth” first reminded me of a historical mystery that veered into the paranormal with a big twist. Twenty-one-year-old France is accepted to work at an archaeological dig in Egypt in 1962. She takes clothes, her precious cello, and the emerald ring given to her by her step-grandfather and heads off on an exotic adventure. She handles an older man’s unwanted attention, a jealous wife, and a nuclear physicist who intrigues her. Along the way, she questions her grandfather’s past and things that happen around her that make her question what she believes. A favorite part of this story was the setting and detail of the history. It brought the story to life. One of the gritty directions surprised me the story took, but I still found myself captivated, wanting to know what happened next. This is a story I can easily recommend for those who love paranormal mysteries.

NOTE: Watch for tomorrow’s post and my exciting news 🙂

Embrace your inner child by reading a great book! Next week is the Creative Perspective Challenge. D. L. Finn (Denise)

#CreativePerspectiveChallenge Four! #flashfiction #poetry #writingcommunity #writingchallenge

Welcome to the fourth Creative Perspective Challenge! I’ve been enjoying not only all the amazing and creative pieces everyone has been coming up with but the push it’s given me to create, too.

Here is this month’s image. I hope you join in, I look forward to seeing what you come up 🙂

Horse and Woman Silhouette at Sunset by cocoparisienne from pixabay

Embrace your inner child by exploring your creativity! D. L. Finn (Denise)

New Release! “Simple Pleasures” By Elizabeth Gauffreau #writingcommunity #readingcommunity #poetrycommunity #newrelease #whattoread #poetry #haiku

I’m thrilled to have Elizabeth Gauffreau here to day to talk about her latest release, “Simple Pleasures!” Here’s my five-star review: LINK

Simple Pleasures Blog Tour

Thank you, Denise, for hosting me on my blog tour for Simple Pleasures: Haiku from the Place Just Right! For today’s stop, I’ll be taking your readers to Smugglers Notch, which is between Jeffersonville and Stowe Vermont. (In this context, “notch” refers to a pass between two or more mountains.)

Smuggler’s Notch originally got its name during the War of 1812 when it was used to smuggle goods to and from Montreal, Quebec after President Thomas Jefferson placed an embargo on trading with Great Britain and Canada.

There were plenty of large boulders and caves to provide smugglers with ways to evade detection. (Source: Vermont Historical Society)

In the 1850s, the Underground Railroad used the pass to smuggle runaway slaves into Canada. And, of course, Smuggler’s Notch was used to bring liquor across the border into the United States during Prohibition. (Source: Vermont Historical Society)

So, Smugglers’ Notch has earned its name! Today, a narrow, winding road with hairpin turns and jutting boulders makes vehicle passage a tricky proposition in places. Needless to say, the road closes in winter.

And you do not want to attempt to bring a tractor-trailer rig through there.

(Photo Credit: Vermont State Police)

It’s always a thrill to drive between two mountains. (A lot of sun glare that day!)

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO LINK

It’s good to get up close and personal with the forest–

–and take a hike. Once again, a kindly stranger takes our photograph!

The bird’s eye view:

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO (Central Vermont Aerial Photography)

‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free

‘Tis the gift to come down where I ought to be . . . .

~ Shaker song attributed to Joseph Brackett

The simple pleasures of our favorite places in nature are gifts of the spirit to be shared with others. In this collection of 53 haiku, each paired with a photograph, poet Liz Gauffreau invites readers to come with her to some of her favorite places in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Some places are long-time favorites going back years; others have become favorites by virtue of inspiring poetry.

Author Biography

Elizabeth Gauffreau writes fiction and poetry with a strong connection to family and place. Her work has been widely published in literary magazines, as well as several themed anthologies. Her short story “Henrietta’s Saving Grace” was awarded the 2022 Ben Nyberg prize for fiction by Choeofpleirn Press.

She has published a novel, Telling Sonny, and a collection of photopoetry, Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance. She is currently working on a novel, The Weight of Snow and Regret, based on the closing of the last poor farm in Vermont in 1968.

Liz’s professional background is in nontraditional higher education, including academic advising, classroom and online teaching, curriculum development, and program administration. She received the Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2018. Liz lives in Nottingham, New Hampshire with her husband. Find her online at https://lizgauffreau.com.

Book2Read Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/SimplePleasures

Print & Fixed EPUB for tablets and Kindle Fire

BookFunnel PDF Purchase Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/gef1ili6qd

For any device.

Stop by and say hi! “Deep in the Forest Where the Poetry Blooms!” @gmplano #writingcommunity #poetrycommunity #newrelease #poetrycollection

Hi,
Today I’m over celebrating release day with Gwen Plano on her beautiful blog! We’d love for you to stop by and say hello.

LINK

Gwen M. Plano, aka Gwendolyn M. Plano, grew up in Southern California and spent most of her professional life in higher education. She taught and served as an administrator in colleges in Japan, New York, Connecticut, and California. Gwen’s academic background is in theology and counseling. Recently retired, she now lives in the high desert of Arizona, where she writes, gardens, and travels with her husband.
Gwen’s first book is an acclaimed memoir, Letting Go into Perfect Love. Her second book, The Contract between heaven and earth, is a thriller fiction novel, co-authored by John W. Howell. It has received multiple awards and is an Amazon Best Seller. The Choice, the unexpected heroes is the sequel to The Contract. It is also a thriller, involving the attempt of an unfriendly nation to take over the world. The third book in the series, The Culmination, a new beginning is an action-packed military thriller that spans the globe and involves multiple Heads of State and the threat of World War III. Only love can change the fate of humanity.
When Gwen is not writing, she’s often in the beautiful Red Rocks of Sedona, where she finds inspiration.

GWEN PLANO AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

New Release! “Deep in the Forest Where Poetry Blooms!” #writingcommunity #newrelease #whattoread #poetry #poetrycommunity

Yay! It’s almost here—RELEASE DAY! Tonight “Deep in the Forest Where the Poetry Blooms” will make its way into your Kindle if you preordered or be available for those who have Kindle umlimited. Plus, the print copy is ready to go. I am planning on adding a hardback soon. The new video is at the end of this post and some information about winning a gift card.

Deep in the Forest Where the Poetry Blooms is poetry that spans over a few years after my other book Just Her Poetry was published in 2019. This current collection encompasses many different types of poetry which I put into seasons, magic, paradise, my emotions, and the back of the Harley. Plus, there’s poetry stories told through haibun style. I have become fond of telling stories in limited words like In the Tree’s Shadows. I continued those shorter stories in this book, but with a poetic twist.

Putting this poetry collection together was overwhelming at first with three hundred pages of poetry to pour through. What to use and how to arrange it was a struggle until I made it more like the first book. After making some deep cuts, I enlisted Colleen Chesebro from Unicorn Cat Publishing to edit. I knew she’d be honest, and she was. She nudged me out of auto-pilot to fly with my words again. That was all I needed to make the cuts and changes. I know I’ve said this before, but never pass by the editing stage, even with poetry.

There are still two hundred pages of poetry that didn’t fit this book but may show up later in other projects.

Next, I worked on the cover. There were several at first, but his one captured my heart. Then came the video which is below. That all went smoothly.

Formatting was the last step. Having never done formatting on a poetry book before, it took some learning. Eventually, I figured it all out. It was one of those hard learning curves that my stubborn side insisted on conquering.

I wanted to get Deep in the Forest Where the Poetry Blooms out before the Harbor Pointe Inn Series released, so that added to my final push.

This poetry represents my current journey, but I left many of those COVID-19 year references. I’d rather focus on nature, magic, healing and exploring stories. Some of these poems were used in different challenges, including Colleen Chesebro’s Tanka Tuesday or the missed Suzanne Burke’s ‘Fiction In A Flash Challenge’ so you may recongnize them.

I was going to share my favorite poem, but in the end, I couldn’t choose. Instead, here’s the video.

AMAZON UNIVERSAL ORDER LINK

I didn’t do a formal blog tour this time around. But there will be a couple posts out there to watch for! I will keep you posted.

In celebration of my latest release, two $5 Amazon gift cards will be randomly given to two people who leave a comment here today.

Next week will be a Finn’s Forest Post.

New Release! “Fusion: Poems of Life” by @BalroopShado #poetry #poems #nature #life #poetrycommunity #writingcommunity #newrelease

Welcome! I’m so happy to welcome Balroop Singh here today to share her latest poetry collection: Fusion: Poems of Life!” I included my review 🙂

Blurb

Fusion is the elixir of life. We seek it in every aspect of the cosmos. The magic of fusion manifests itself in the colors of dawn and dusk, in the melodies of nature, in the singing of birds, in the miniscule moments of joy, inspiring us to live in harmony with each other despite the edges that threaten to swallow us.

The poems in this collection are an amalgamation of harmonies and edges that bind us firmly. We have to wade into murky waters to measure the depth. We have to risk the heights to know our worth. Slippery snow makes us learn how to create footholds. Some songs of life dilute in the hourglass of time to erase the shadows – dark or light, all the colors play an equal role to create a fusion.

Excerpt

This poem “talks about the journey of life in metaphors.”

Colors of Life…

They’re blue and lilac
With cuddles and caresses
Rocking like our cradle
Life sounds sublime initially.

Yellow and green mingle
To greet the first steps
Butterflies look charming,
Fairies step in to offer magic.

Pink and red flutter our hearts
Passion reigns supreme
Adventure holds our dreams,
Love gets a new connotation.

Darker shades set in
Black and gray dominate
Shadows hover to scare,
Ego refuses to bend.

Ashen and gray may jolt us
But life keeps its smile
If we let the clouds pass
And revel in starry delight.
© Balroop Singh

UNIVERSAL AMAZON LINK

My Review

“Fusion: Poems of Life” takes the reader on a vivid journey through nature and life’s emotional aspects. I enjoyed the entire collection, but the nature-based poems really captivated me because I am so comfortable there. It was very hard to pick from the beautiful imagery, but here are a few of the many I highlighted. “The dream of my life was/To fly with the clouds/Drape their colors,/Adapt their shapes…”—Dreams, “Snow clad mountaintops/Kiss capricious clouds./Emerald lake watches,/As rosy hues of dawn smile…”—Ambrosial Love, “Stormy sea swallow/Stories of eons/Some shores speak…”—Changes, “Hold the first rays of sun/Softly in your hands or/Soak them gently in your eyes…”—Magic Moments, “The shimmer of violets allures me/A flower fairy sits smiling/Sprinkling her magic dust…”—Flower Fairy, and “The moment she wears her scarlet gown/She gets a call to cast her spell/Edgy enchantress grabs her crystal…”—The Scarlet Gown. A collection I read in one sitting, but one I will also revisit. I can highly recommend this to all poetry lovers.

Author Bio

Balroop Singh, an educator, a poet and an author always had a passion for writing. She would jot down her reflections on a piece of paper and forget about them till each drawer of her home started overflowing with poetic reminders, popping out at will! The world of her imagination has a queer connection with realism. She could envision the images of her own poetry while teaching the poems. Her dreams saw the light of the day when she published her first poetry book: ‘Sublime Shadows Of Life.’ She has always lived through her heart. She is a great nature lover; she loves to watch birds flying home. The sunsets allure her with their varied hues that they lend to the sky. She can spend endless hours listening to the rustling of leaves and the sound of waterfalls. She lives in California. You can visit her blog at http://balroop2013.wordpress.com

Embrace your inner child by reading some beautiful poetry! D. L. Finn

New Release! “In the Shadow of Rainbows” by Selma Martin @SelmaWrites #writingcommunity #readersoftwitter #poetry #poetrycommunity #debut

I’m pleased to welcome a fellow poet, Selma Martin, here today to share her beautiful debut collection with us. I’ve included my review.

The cover photograph is by a dear friend, https://kathrynleroy.com/

Here’s Selma’s insight into one of her poems:

In writing, I attempt to add value to the finished work that comes straight from the place from where poems arise. Most come when I sit alone with my thoughts; I prefer quiet, like the kind one finds out in nature. Others come after reading something that lingers or makes me give a double take. In the case of this poem, it came about after reading a lovely book titled The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The book is set in Germany and is based on the time of that terrible war.

The Heil to her Pa expression is supposed to mark that awful time in history for the reader—that is all. In this poem, I hoped to showcase this young ‘adopted’ girl’s exuberance for learning to read and reaching the end of her very first book.

Her Pa had everything to do with her first win! In Zusak’s novel, the girl’s adopted Ma had a penchant for using mean and dirty words and called her husband pigheaded. But the girl knew better. Her Pa was nothing of the sort.

I’m so happy this poem came about, and now I have one poem of my own that reminds me of the novel. If you ever get a chance, please read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I was swooned by it. xoxo

Page 82 —In The Shadow of Rainbows

Hopeful one morn

would bring them much closer

She, barely eight

and he forty-three

Dawn after dawn

they braved nightly slumber

Tasting ‘n writing,

chewing words, hungry.

The dim of the lamp

paled with new morning light

Sent them upstairs

to bowls of warm porridge

Then holding hands

to streets wet with sunlight

She to midge class went,

he to seek courage.

Until one dawn

at the turn of the lights

They reached the end

—one book defeated!

She grinned ear to ear,

and soared like a kite

Heil to her Pa,

who Ma called pigheaded.

Blurb:

In this dazzling debut poetry collection of over 60 carefully selected poems, author Selma Martin points the way to the beauty in the everyday, the shadow of the rainbow, and the silver lining at the edge of every cloud.

Favouring lyrical forms, and revelling in rhymes and musical language, the individual poems in this collection harmonise together in symphonic splendour to form an enlightening and delightful whole.

My Review

“In The Shadow of Rainbows,” is Ms. Martin’s debut poetry book that I thoroughly enjoyed. There is a nice blend of nature with the emotional side of poems. The words flowed through the pages with vivid images and insights. I enjoyed them all but here are a few lines and poems that
caught my eye: “nurtured under the illimitable/distant sun, fulfilling stories/among the starlight…”—Give Back, “Light illuminates/all who wander/in darkness and delusion…”—Let Go. “When death comes/I want to be led into eternity/curious, full of joy…”—When Death Comes, “The green outside is winking at me/it arose merely moments ago,/like a well-rested
child rising from sleep,…”—Nature’s Tender Doings, and “I almost died of
exuberance/snorkeling around the unspoiled/coral reef/ when, in the dull hum of silence…”—I Almost Died. A wonderful collection to savor more than once that I can easily recommend for poetry lovers.

What others are saying:

“Be ready for Selma’s poetry to play with your thoughts, and to discover your heart hiding in the shadows!” — Lynn Wielenga, madhatterpoetry.com

“In The Shadow of Rainbows is a delightful and profoundly thoughtful collection of poems. Selma Martin’s inner light radiates from every sparkling page.” — Cheryl Batavia, Author, Life in Inspiring Places

“Beautiful, simply beautiful.”—DAP @ My2ndHeartBeat

“Selma Martin’s debut poetry collection transmutes misery into mesmerizing beauty. Not only is each poem masterful in form, it is lined with spiritual truth much like a golden-lined cloud shimmering in the brilliance of a rainbow after a storm.”— Barbara Harris Leonhard, editor, MasticadoresUSA

“I encourage you to enjoy In the Shadow of Rainbows as it weaves its lyrical prose and skillful imagery and invites you to search for your one poem within its pages time and time again.”— Layla Todd, Nin Chronicles

“A wonderful debut collection of Soul-felt poetry.”— Harmony Kent, Goodreads

“If you enjoy surrounding yourself with powerful imagery, glimpses of life and nature, and slices of everyday life, then do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this collection of poetry. It’s wonderful!” — Yvette M Calleiro

UNIVERSAL AMAZON PURCHASE LINK

AUTHOR BIO:

Selma Martin is a retired English teacher with 20 years of teaching children ESL. She believes in people’s goodness and in finding balance in simple living. She lives in Japan with her husband. In 2017, after retiring from her ESL position, Selma enrolled in her first short story writing competition with The Write Practice (TWP), an welcoming online community of writers. She practiced earnestly there and had the honor of mingling with seasoned Writers and newcomers like herself.

In 2018, Selma participated in a TWP networking course whose final lesson was to publish a story on Amazon. After many failed attempts, she completed the course and self-published her short story, “Wanted: Husband/Handyman,” in 2019.

Later, collaborating with peers from that course, she published “Wanted:
Husband/Handyman” in Once Upon A Story: A Short Fiction Anthology.
Selma has published articles and poems on Medium since 2017; she has the story from that first competition published in Short Fiction Break, 2017, and poetry in The Poetorium At Starlight, 2022, MasticadoresUSA, and Spillwords. After her first NaPoWriMo 2021, Selma writes poetry on her website, selmamartin.com, and struggled with her introversion to garner the courage to publish this—her first collection of poems.

Connect with Selma:

Twitter

Instagram

Facebook.