Novel out in Hardcopy this June !!

Hey loves! I'm back. :)
I've missed you! But I've been busy in the meanwhile, preparing something for you. This time, I've got a novel under my belt. In hardcopy, that is.
Love and war and a magnificent mess of paint and blood and glory and surrealism...


But don't take my word for it.

"Extraordinarily compelling… Written with an almost surreal style… A panoramic mosaic of vignettes erupting in shades of love, war, and family…" -A.F. Stewart, Chronicles of the Undead

"...Lively and lovely in the telling..."

-Alan Cheuse, Ph.D., To Catch the Lightning, NPR's "Voice of Books"

http://www.alancheuse.com/

“Recreating miracles at every turn”

Margaret Yocom, Ph.D., American Folklore Society

"Excellent. I hope it becomes a classic."

-Alex Canton-Dutari, Clinical Psychology Ph.D.

". . . A poignant, warm, amusing and sometimes brutal portrait of a piece of history frozen in time . . ."

The.Art.of.War.Novel

time to be moving on. . . .

that's right. it's been real, it's been great, it's been really great, but greekamerika is going on pause. just for a bit. i'll be back. i promise :-)


i'm moving on to a new blog now, because i've got a new mission. not one i'm going to share yet, though, so you'll just have to sit tight and wait for it, please.


it'll be worth the wait. it always is.


eventually. 


i've got greek blood, remember? all that stuff about the 11th hour? yea, that's no lie. 


happy thanksgiving, and love to you all who've been with me here so far, and to all you who haven't and will never get a chance to read this because perhaps you don't even know such a blog exists (or you don't care). good wishes have a way of catching and spreading. i like to believe that.


bye.

a monstrous snippet of a tale

My Monster

“DIVIDED PATHS UNITE” by Philippe Fernandez
Let it be known, I don’t care what they say.
They call me the beauty to your beast, but we both know that isn’t true.They see a monster, a personification of the horrendous, and they must know something. For they see you through the eyes of adults, and I am but a child. But I know that if you thirst than I must feed you, and if you’re wounded I must bind you. They have taught me—for better or for worse—that a monster’s heart is still a one, black and broken and all.
I don’t think I’ll see you often. Our paths are very different, and reaching out above the abyss of this cliff is dangerous—you know we both might fall. Horrendous as you are, sly as is your look, and your smile being full of death threats, I think I will stay on my side, here with my brother’s red toy cart, here with my mother’s outgrown brown shoes. I am at once afraid of and in love with you, and perhaps you’ll realize why.
You will reach out your gnarled withered hands, you will smile your smooth shark-tooth smile, and you will make your poisonous ivy-green eyes glitter. I will flee, and you won’t follow, but one thing I’ll leave behind to remember you by. Please don’t eat it.
Keep this moment in your head, my monster, and maybe your heart. Don’t fall off the cliff, and I hope you water the plant.
~Angreek87

Be You.

http://www.redbubble.com/people/poisonlolly/art/4720685-angels-nightmare

“ANGEL’S NIGHTMARE” by Poisonlolly

Be You

I’ll tell you the truth, child. You can’t change their minds. You can only change you. You can’t change their nightmares. You can only explore your own dreams. You can’t change the world, except if you change yourself, for you too are a sliver of the world. Don’t underestimate your littleness. In adding a few flakes of chili you can ruin a dish or you can create a flavorful masterpiece.

There is a quote that says it best, a quote that’s been tied originally to Dr. Kent M. Keith, and then cherished and spread by Mother Theresa. And it says this:

People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.

For, you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never been you and them anyway.

~Angreek87

Good Enough.

Neil Gaimon might be right. In his book Neverwhere, a phrase strikes a cord within me by saying “You’ve a good heart. Sometimes that’s enough to see you safe wherever you go. But mostly, it’s not.” Truly, a good heart may open doors to everywhere. In a world that’s not ideal, not always kind, and often cruel—a world like yours and mine, you see—these doors may lead to neverwhere, a place neither here nor there, not anywhere.

When acknowledged, goodness is appreciated. It is admired, respected, cherished; it inspires, consoles, thrives. Like breeds like, and love breeds love; kindred spirits recognize each other, and find within themselves a spark that when united and ignited becomes a flame that blazes through every other obstacle. Legacies of independence, love, and peace have been founded upon flames such as these. Existent legends like Mohatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Confucious, Nelson Mandela… and countless more we may or may not agree on… prove to us daily that there are kindred spirits.

When not acknowledged, it is viewed in a skewed light. It is a thing to be trampled, a characteristic of weaklings and idiots, a cumbersome or leer-worthy obstacle to a self-driven, self-oriented, self-serving mind. In a world or society or family run by greed, selfish power, or ill will, the good are the minority, the misunderstood, and thus automatically the enemy. Timelessly, evil has sought to crush good, and might revolts against right.

The best of all? Authors, philosophers, and leaders who have learned to speak out with and about goodness know this already: goodness does not mean weakness. Goodness does not mean stupidity. It can, just as evil can, but it shouldn’t, and it doesn’t have to. God gave man a mind along with a heart, and a pair of hands that can become the most powerful of tools.

“A good head and a good heart,” said Nelson Mandela, “are always a formidable combination. But when you add a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.”

~Angreek87