Celebrate Good Friday with Salmon Patties and a Sweet Romance Read by Catherine Castle...

I thought it would be nice to share a homey meal of salmon patties with you today. This is my mother’s recipe, and quite frankly, I love it so much that I always put a few patties aside for breakfast. I even eat them cold. As kids, and when I could eat more carbs, these were served with white rice and gravy made from the oil and pan drippings. Nowadays I choose a more carb friendly side. I hope you’ll enjoy these.

Mom’s Salmon Patties

1 - 15 oz. can of pink salmon

2 eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup finely diced onion

1 cup finely diced celery

¼ cup yellow cornmeal

1 – 2 tbsp. vegetable oil 

Drain salmon, leaving bones and skin in bowl. Add eggs and veggies and mix well. Add cornmeal and mix well.

Heat oil in skillet until it shimmers. Form patties using a 2-inch diameter spoon and fry in oil until golden brown on both sides. It may take 2 batches to cook all patties and you may need to add a bit more oil as they fry. Keep patties warm in a low temperature oven while your second batch cooks.

Makes 12 patties

After you’ve enjoyed these patties settle in with Catherine’s award-winning sweet romantic comedy with a touch of drama A Groom for Mama. 

As Allison travels the country in search of a husband, she has a lot of dates that involve dinner. To see what she eats as she tries to find her person, check out the book on AMAZON  and Barnes and Noble. Here’s a peek at the story’s blurb.

One date for every medical test—that’s the deal. Allison, however, gets more than she bargains for. She gets a Groom for Mama.

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

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Multi-award-winning author Catherine Castle has been writing all her life. A former freelance writer, she has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit (under her real name) in the Christian and secular market. Now she writes sweet and inspirational romance. Her debut inspirational romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, from Soul Mate Publishing, has garnered multiple contests finals and wins.

Catherine loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, watching movies, and the theatre. In the winter she loves to quilt and has a lot of UFOs (unfinished objects) in her sewing case. In the summer her favorite place to be is in her garden. She’s passionate about gardening and even won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club.

Learn more about Catherine Castle on her website and blog. Stay connected on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out Catherine’s Amazon author page and her Goodreads page. You can also find Catherine on Stitches Thru Time and the SMP authors blog site.

Book Tour, Guest Post, and Giveaway: The Demons of Square Mile by Laurence Raphael Brothers...

About The Demons of the Square Mile:

The real story behind Brexit.

Occult Private Investigator, Nora Simeon, and her uncannily handsome partner Eyre - an elemental given human form - follow a trail of magic, murder, and conspiracy from the luxurious apartment towers of Manhattan's upper east side to the ancient depths of London's Inner Temple. Along the way they encounter powerful sorcerers, magisterial barristers, evil templars, and, of course, more demons gone rogue.

With their newly acquired ward, Martha - a rat-demon - in tow, they uncover a secret so profound it could both undermine the world's financial system and topple the British government.

Visit the Tour Hosts:

https://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2021/03/tour-hosts-for-demons-of-square-mile.html

Book Information:

Publisher: Mirror World Publishing (https://www.mirrorworldpublishing.com/)

Publish Date: March 17, 2021
Paperback: 114 pages
ISBN-10: 1987976770
ISBN-13: 978-1987976779

Guest Post: Alternative Futures in the Nora Simeon Novellas

By Laurence Raphael Brothers

I started writing the Nora Simeon novellas with the vague idea that they were set in something like the current day, but insensibly, as I worked my way through the first one, the book slipped gently into the future. Not the distant science-fictional future of spaceships and sentient computers, nor even the middle distance of autonomous vehicles and universal surveillance, but “the day after tomorrow”. This setting offers a totally familiar world (well, except for the sorcery and the demons and all that) but one that’s not set in stone in terms of current events.

Because one thread in these books is societal criticism (hopefully not too annoying because the first purpose is entertainment) I didn’t want Nora’s world to diverge casually or accidentally from our own. Instead I wanted its divergences to be specific and limited, so that as the reader you can assume that if you know something unstated about our world, it will apply to Nora’s as well.

It was always my plan to take Nora to the UK in the first sequel, so I had to deal with Brexit, which at the time of conceiving the story was pretty clearly going to happen, but whose details were unknown. Of course, like the vast majority of economists and observers outside Britain, I was reasonably confident it would be a disaster, but the precise scale and consequences of the disaster were unclear. The easiest approach was to confront this unknown head-on, since I thought it so wonderfully stupid and self-destructive. In the story I could come up with some reason, however fantastic, that would necessarily make more sense than the idiotic actuality.

And so a point of divergence between our world and Nora’s is that in ours Brexit was the absurdly unintended consequence of in-fighting between factions of the Conservative party, neither of whom actually wanted Brexit to take place, whereas in hers it came about due to political infighting between continental and British sorcerers. The difference there is that in Nora’s world at least the group who promoted Brexit sincerely wanted it to happen, so I suppose in that respect her world is more sensible than ours.

I’d actually completed the ms when first reports came of some new form of flu or something like that arising in China. Pretty soon it became clear that if I wanted readers to imagine Nora as living in the Manhattan of our own world, I’d have to do something. Because in the novella, people can go out to restaurants and bars and hotels and take international flights without worrying and without wearing masks, either. This time, however, I decided head-on was not the right approach, despite this being totally appropriate for other current-day and near-future stories. And so, in Nora’s world, where sorcery is used in secret to influence the profits of investment banks and mold the behavior of the global economy, it’s perfectly consistent for this generally immoral and unethical art to be used, for once, for the good of humanity, in wiping out the nascent disease before it could take hold. Because, after all, Covid is terrible for the economy....

Anyway, easy and indeed appropriate as this decision was, I worried it over for a while because it seemed a bit less than forthright to finesse this terrible disease that has killed so many people and damaged the lives of literally everyone else in the world. And moreover, no one could anymore entertain the fantasy that the story’s events might be real in our world. In the end I came to the conclusion that whatever secondary moral or even political goals these books might serve, the principal one is entertainment, and that especially in this unpleasant last year with who knows how much more unpleasantness left to come, that a fantasy with no global pandemic would be far more attractive than one without.

And so, apart from one brief mention explaining how the Covid-19 was sorcerously decapitated before it could take hold, you won’t find masks, social distancing, vaccine inequity, or the perverse, stupid, and indeed wholly evil attempts of our various political leaders to downplay or minimize the disease anywhere in The Demons of the Square Mile.

Read an Excerpt:

 “Simeon Investigations.”

“We have your minion,” said an inhuman voice. A demon’s for sure, unless it had been synthesized. It sounded like shards of broken glass jangling in a paper bag, but I could understand it. What I couldn’t understand was how anyone could kidnap Eyre without getting their asses handed to them. Gun or no gun.

“Who are you?”

More broken glass sounds, but no words. After a few seconds I realized it was laughter. At last the voice answered. “We would be foolish to divulge our true name. Call us Émigré.”

“What do you want?”

“We have a job for you.”

I felt a flash of red rage. My little pet fire elemental, Spark, flared up in sympathy from its urn on the windowsill, and I thought I might just burst into flame myself.

“You stupid infernal-plane motherfucker! I charge a hundred an hour. All you had to do was clear a check and I’d work for you. But now–”

“Now we have leverage, yes?”

“Let me speak to him.”

“Certainly.”

Brief silence, and then Eyre came on the line. His voice was weak. I wanted to reach through the phone and tear broken-glass-voice to pieces with my hands.

“Hey, Nora,” he said. “I’m really sorry about this. They got hold of my sigil somehow. They know what I am.”

“Eyre,” I said, “listen to me. I’m coming for you. Don’t fight them yourself.” I was thinking, Not till I get there.

“No fear of that,” he said. “It’s – you’ll have to see. They say they’ll let me go if you work for them. But I don’t think–”

Eyre’s voice cut off and broken-glass-voice resumed.

“Nora Simeon is known to us as a hunter of demons. She was contracted to hunt the demon Barbatos. She fulfilled her contract and killed the mighty demon Azriel.”

Actually, it was Eyre who had the final word against Azriel, but there was a lesson there I wanted this demon to learn.

“I’m a PI. An investigator. Barbatos was just a missing person job. But listen carefully. Azriel would have been in no danger from me, except she attacked Eyre. My partner, Eyre. I’ve got nothing against demons these days. Not unless they kidnap my friends. Do you understand me, Émigré?”

A pause. “Yes.”

I knew even as I was saying it how stupid it was. But I couldn’t help myself. I was too damn angry.

“If anything happens to Eyre, I will destroy you, too. Count on it. But if you release him right now, I might just let you live.”

A longer pause. The phone was slick and uncomfortable in my hand. Then: “Very well.”

“What?”

“Come to us. We will release your minion into your care. We – do not wish to be destroyed. We are used to negotiations in our world and – and we realize that we now exist in your own. We wish you to do a job for us. We will pay. We did not believe you would listen to us if we solicited your services without leverage.”

“Okay. Where are you?”

“We are located at...” Another pause, and I heard indistinct jangling noises away from the phone. “Yes. 87th Street and York Avenue. The red building. Apartment 18E.”

Demons on the upper east side. Why not?

“All right,” I said. “I’ll be there shortly.”

Yet more silence, like it was thinking about saying something else. Then: “Goodbye.”

I smelled something burning, turned my head to see a thin swirl of black smoke rising from around Spark’s pot. The tiny elemental had gotten so hot from my emotions during the call it had scorched the paint right off the windowsill. Fortunately it was a metal sill and frame, with nothing inflammable nearby. Spark had been growing stronger lately, more in the last few months than it had during the previous ten years since I’d summoned and bound it as my first and only successful feat of sorcery. I shook some powdered incense into the elemental’s urn as a treat, and like a dragonfly made of flame, it flew up and spiraled around my body, leaving only a faint sensation of warmth behind. Spark had already forgotten my rage of a moment before. Any other time I would have stopped to play with it, but not today.

I returned to Eyre’s desk and retrieved his pistol, a massive old Colt M1911, made sure it was loaded and safe, and dropped it into a tote bag along with his phone. My own compact Ruger went into its tailored holster. Maybe Émigré was telling the truth about letting Eyre go, but if it wasn’t, I’d have something to say.

Purchase Your Copy:

Mirror World Publishing Paperback

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Amazon Ebook

Meet the Author:

Laurence Raphael Brothers is a writer and a technologist. He has published over 25 short stories in such magazines as Nature, the New Haven Review, PodCastle, and Galaxy's Edge. His WWI-era historical fantasy novel Twilight Patrol was just released by Alban Lake. For more of his stories, visit https://laurencebrothers.com/bibliography, or follow him on twitter: @lbrothers.

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A Soothing Soup Recipe and Couple of YA Fantasy Reads by Chris Pavesic...

 My sister-in-law Breen loves to cook and occasionally works her magic in my kitchen. Just the other day she prepared one of our family favorites. We thoroughly enjoy a bowl or two during winter as lunch or dinner. For me the pepitas make this dish a hit. I love scooping them out one at a time with a spoonful of soup!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

4 lbs. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-in. cubes

2 tbsp. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp. unsalted butter

1 onion, roughly chopped

8 cups chicken broth

1 tsp. dried thyme

Pepitas (Shelled pumpkin seeds)

Preheat oven to 400° F.

Place squash on baking sheets; avoid overcrowding.  Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven over medium-low heat, melt the butter.  Add the onion and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.  Pour in the chicken broth and add thyme.  Bring to a boil. 

Remove the squash from the oven and add to the broth.  Simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Using a regular or immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.  Serve warm.  Top with pepitas if desired.  

Why not read a good book while you enjoy your soup? May I suggest one of the books from my LitRPG series The Revelation Chronicles? 

In Starter Zone Cami kept herself and her younger sister Alby alive in a post-apocalyptic world, facing starvation, violence, and death on a daily basis. Caught by the military and forcefully inscribed, Cami manages to scam the system and they enter the Realms, a Virtual Reality world, as privileged Players rather than slaves. They experience a world of safety, plenty, and magical adventure.

In the Traveler's Zone magic, combat, gear scores, quests, and dungeons are all puzzles to be solved as Cami continues her epic quest to navigate the Realms and build a better life for her family. But an intrusion from her old life threatens everything she has gained and imperils the entire virtual world.

Time to play the game. 

Above the tree line floats an airship close to three hundred feet long with a slightly rounded wooden hull. Ropes attach the lower portion of the ship to an inflated balloon-like aspect, bright white in color with an identification symbol, a red bird with white-tipped feathers extended in flight, inside a round yellow circle in the center of the canvas. The deck is manned with archers and swordsmen. There are two sets of fore and aft catapults.

What I don’t see are cannons or any other type of a gun large enough to account for the sound of the explosion.

The ship pivots in the air, coming around to point directly at what looks like an oncoming flock of five large birds. Or creatures. They are too big and too strange looking to be birds. They drift closer, flapping their wings.

A moment passes before I realize that they are not creatures either. They are some sort of gliders. A person hangs below each set of the feathered wings, which flap and move with mechanical precision in a sky washed out by the morning sun.

The archers nock their arrows and aim at the flock.

The gliders draw in their wings and dive toward the deck, covering the distance in a few heartbeats. Most of the arrows fly uselessly past the attack force and fall like black rain from the sky. The archers aimed and released the volley too late.

The forward catapult releases a torrent of small rocks at the lead glider. It is a scatter-shot approach that proves effective. There are so many missiles that it is impossible to dodge them all.

But at the moment the stones strike, the other four let loose with fireballs. Spheres of crackling flame spring from their hands, glowing faintly at first and then with increasing brightness. The balls of fire shoot from their hands like bullets from a gun and fly toward the ship, exploding. Pieces bounce off the hull and fall to the ground, throwing hissing, burning globs of magic-fueled fire in all directions, setting everything they touch aflame. 

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Traveler's Zone

Starter Zone

Chris Pavesic is a fantasy author who lives in the Midwestern United States and loves Kona coffee, steampunk, fairy tales, and all types of speculative fiction. Between writing projects, Chris can most often be found reading, gaming, gardening, working on an endless list of DIY household projects, or hanging out with friends. 

Learn more about Chris on her website and blog. 

Stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, and her Amazon Author Page.

When It Comes To Writing, Age Doesn't Matter by Catherine Castle...

Age Doesn’t Matter

Just Ask Abraham’s Wife Sarah

I got a text from my daughter the other day. It read, “You’re kind of like Laura Ingalls Wilder. She didn’t get published until 65.”

 I took a bit of umbrage to that statement, and pulled a bit of pride from it as well. I’d love to be an internationally well-known writer like Laura Ingalls Wilder, who was one of my favorite authors –as well as my daughter’s favorite author, now and when she was young. I wasn’t so crazy about the 65 bit, however. I was under 65 when my first book was published, and well under 65 in how-young-you-feel-and-look years. (And isn’t that what really counts?)

 However, my daughter’s statement got me to thinking about how our accomplishments aren’t limited to age. I was actually in my early 40s when I began writing professionally as a stringer for our local town newspaper. I’d always loved to write and had filled a notebook full of poems, written dozens of short stories that never made it past the Mom-thinks-it’s-wonderful stage, and composed countless school essays that always made great marks. The writing assignments that other students groaned about, I relished. I loved everything about them, from the research, to the actual writing, and even the editing—things that serve me well now as a published author.

Writing and reading have always been my passions, along with singing and acting. As a teenager I wanted to be a rock-and-roll singer or act on stage. At the time, writing never even entered my realm of careers. It was only a hobby I loved. I never made it to the limelight of center stage, in spite of the many times I tried out for school plays or musicals. I got chorus parts, but never the starring roles.

Ahh, but never give up. There’s a time and a place for everything and, for some of us, that time comes later in life. Today, I’m a published author—both as a solo author and co-authoring with my husband. I sing onstage at church, praising the Lord who gave me my voice. I’m also co-writing plays for our church (with my husband), acting and co-directing in plays for our church. Granted, it’s not Hollywood, which I have decided I wouldn’t want to be part of now anyway. Nor am I on the New York Times Bestseller list, to which I still aspire. But I’m doing what I’ve always wanted to. I’ve discovered doing what you love, at any age, is satisfying beyond belief.

Here’s the interesting thing about how everything turned out: I believe I’m right where God wants me to be, at the time of my life he wanted me to be there. After all, if he could give Sarah and Abraham a child in their old age, at just the right time to begin His plan of salvation for the world, who am I to question why my bit of success didn’t come when I was twenty?

Mine is not to wonder why, but just to do and be satisfied. So, if you’re bemoaning the fact that you haven’t “made it” yet in the publishing world, or with any other goal you’ve set for yourself, don’t. Just keep working toward that goal and relish the success, no matter how big or small, when it comes.

Catherine achieved her goal publication and also won several awards with her debut book, The Nun and the Narc. Check out the blurb and read a sample on Amazon.

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

The Nun and the Narc is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.