Selkies are legendary shape-shifting creatures of the sea. Stories abound about these seal people who shed their skins and come ashore in human form to dance on the beaches, or bask in the sun.

The folktales tell about selkie women whose pelts are stolen and hidden by enamored men. Trapped in their human forms, the female selkies must remain as the wives of their captors until they can retrieve their skins and escape to the sea. Male selkies are reputed to seduce human females. Some human women actually seek out the handsome selkie men.

Book III and Book IV of the Karakesh Chronicles have characters that are selkies. What most interests me is this: what happens to the children of these unions? What do they look like? Are they born with the same combination of traits, or are the selkie and human features mixed up in different ways?

That is partly what Book IV is about. The main character is a half selkie/half human girl. I’m writing it now. I hope you’ll read it when it is published.

Meanwhile, you can explore the Kingdom of Karakesh in Book I: Tangled in Magic, available at www.amazon.com and check out my author page at www.amazon.com/author/ellisk

Saachi, our 3-month-old Jack Russell terrier, loves Obadiah.  She loves his beard, his boots, his socks, and his ears.

  

  She calms down—eventually.

When You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead

published by Wendy Lamb Books

Newbery Award, 2009

 

I’ve just read this fabulous story for the third time!

 

Sixth grader Miranda lives in New York City, in the same building as her good friend, Sal. They are street-savvy kids, knowing how to stay safe, and avoid the crazies, like the guy under the corner mailbox.

Then Sal gets punched for no apparent reason, and shuns Miranda’s company. Miranda gets a mysterious note scribbled on a tiny piece of paper that says:

 

I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own.

I ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter.

 

Interwoven through this wonderful story is the plot of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, Miranda’s favorite book. Miranda, and the readers, ponder the conundrum of time travel. Would you see yourself arrive before you left?

 

The characters, sub-plots, and ultimate mystery of Stead’s book make for a rich and fascinating read.

Tangled in Magic, Book I of the Karakesh Chronicles is now available online!

https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07622M4TN?ref_=pe_1724030_132998070

Please write a review and spread the news!

 

 

 

My ninety-year-old Aunt Joan keeps things: newspaper articles on Spanish cuisine, records of family accomplishments, and letters–lots of letters.  She sorts through her boxes of papers and sends those of interest on to the appropriate family member.

Most often I receive letters written either by myself, or a relative.  Yesterday, though, I opened an envelope from Joanie and found the following: an article I wrote about  teaching that was published in the Monroe-Woodbury Teachers’ Association newsletter, Crossroads.

 

See this excited author holding the first proof of her middle grade fantasy novel, Tangled in Magic.

The polishing is in progress.  The book will be available for purchase soon!

 

Saachi comes to Ladythorn Place

Saachi, a Jack Russell terrier, joined our family on August 6th.  She was born on June 14, so today she is exactly two months old.

She is vastly entertaining, but like any baby, she requires a lot of care and attention.

She loves to be outside, digging and rolling and chewing.  Surprisingly, she’s missed noticing the frogs in the yard, even when I point them out to her.

Saachi will be wildly active, chewing on furniture legs, our legs, shoes, and toys for about half an hour.  Then she sacks out for a good two hour nap.

We’ll have Saachi updates as she grows.

Welcome, Saachi!

 

Story Thieves

by James Riley

published by Aladdin, 2015.

 

“You just told a character in a book that he was in a book! Do you have any idea what that means?”

“No?” Owen said.

“Me neither!” Bethany shouted. “And that’s what scares me!”

-from the back cover of Story Thieves

 

            Story Thieves is a fabulous book, and James Riley is a clever writer. The plot moves breathtakingly fast, with one dangerous, impossible situation following another.

Bethany, Owen’s classmate, is half-fiction. Her father was a fictional character and that gives Bethany the ability to jump into books. Even though her mother forbids it, Bethany continues to escape into stories to search for her father. She’s very careful not to interfere with the characters or plots, until Owen discovers her secret. He wants to go into his favorite series and perform some heroics. That’s when all the trouble begins.

Story Thieves is a fabulous, mind-stretching read. What book would you go into, if you could?

 

 

Opus 40, near Saugerties, New York, is the life work of Harvey Fite.   He bought the bluestone quarry in 1938, and spent the next 37 years constructing his Opus 40.

In the visitors’ center, we watched a short film about Fite and his work.

               

Beside the sheer size of this sculpture/stonework, I was most impressed by an aerial photograph of Opus 40.  There we could see the influence of the work Fite did in Honduras, restoring Mayan ruins.

Looking closely at the walls, I was amazed that Fite quarried and placed every single stone.  As we were leaving, we met a woman sitting on a golf cart.  It turned out that she was the wife of Fite’s stepson.  Pat lives with her husband in the house Fite built, and works to keep the monument a busy venue for visitors and concerts.

I wished that my father could have seen Fite’s Opus and his other sculptures.  My father was a sculptor whose work showed similar influences of his era: Arp, Noguchi, and Moore.  He would have enjoyed Opus 40.

 

Learn more about Opus 40 at   https://www.opus40.org/

In the main plaza yesterday there was an abundant display of the local produce. I didn’t quite know what was going on, but I think several farms belonged to the organization that was showing off their crops.

At our place in Villa Horacia, we have things growing, too: bananas

and olives

We are here only four more days.  I have found many things to love in Spain.  My eyes and heart are enriched.  I am grateful.