My recipe and novel are featured on Food in Fiction, a month-long celebration on Terri Giuliano Long’s blog.
Drop by and visit – I’m the second entry of the day. Before leaving, scroll down and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway. You could win a $25 Amazon gift card.
In 1989, Walt Disney Productions released The Little Mermaid, an animated film based upon the fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen. The worldwide response was an overwhelming one. The film has grossed over $200 million worldwide and has been credited with launching the Disney Renaissance, an era that breathed life back into the animated feature film genre.
Here are 10 interesting facts about this popular film:
1. In designing heroine Ariel, the animators were inspired by the body of Alyssa Milano (Who’s The Boss? star) and the hair of astronaut Sally Ride. Ariel’s underwater hair sequence was based on a video of Sally’s hair as she traveled in zero gravity.
2. To avoid confusion with Daryl Hannah’s mermaid in Splash, the animators decided to make Ariel a redhead.
3. The voice actor for Prince Eric was sixteen-year-old Christoper Daniel Barnes.
4. The villain Ursula was designed to resemble Madame Medusa from “The Rescuers” and cinema drag queen Divine, best known for his roles in Pink Flamingos and Hairspray.
5. Originally, the producer asked Bea Arthur to play Ursula, but she dropped out of the film because of “Golden Girls” conflicts. Rosanne Barr and Nancy Wilson were also considered until Elaine Stritch was cast. Unfortunately, Elaine proved incompatible and was replaced by Pat Carroll.
6. Patrick Stewart was offered the role of King Triton but had to turn it down because he was too busy with “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Kenneth Mars was cast in the role.
7. Jodi Benson recorded “Part of Your World” with the studio lights turned low to simulate the feeling of being underwater. This classic Disney tune was almost cut from the film because the director thought the song was too boring.
8. In the opening scene with King Triton, Micky Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, and Kermit the Frog appear in the crowd of sea-people.
9. During Eric and Ariel’s wedding scene, the Grand Duke and King from Disney’s Cinderella can be seen in the background.
10. The directors insisted that every bubble in the movie be hand-drawn, not Xeroxed. Animator Mark Dindal estimated that he and his colleagues had to draw a million bubbles.
I’m thrilled to welcome Soul Mate author R.B. Austin to the Power of 10 series. Today, RB shares her favorite quotes.
Here’s RB!
Thank you so much for hosting me, Joanne! Listed below are ten of my favorite quotes.
I love words that when pulled together cause me to think. To feel. Or want to change. Or help me realize I’m not alone this is a huge, sometimes scary, world.
I hope you, dear readers, find some inspiration to brighten or change your day.
1. Never give up…No one knows what’s going to happen next. –L. Frank Baum
2. The mind I love must have wild places. –Katherine Mansfield
3. And what is empty turns its face to us / and whispers: / “I am not empty, I am open.” Tomas Transtromer
4. Do you think that I count the days? There is only one day left, always starting over: it is given to us at dawn and taken away from us at dusk. –Jean-Paul Sartre
5. In a time of destruction, create something. –Maxine Hong Kingston
6. Is this why we love at all? To save. –From the movie “A Winters Tale”
7. For there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought. –Edmund Spenser
8. Be a lamp, a lifeboat, or a ladder… -Rumi
9. We can only die in the future, I thought; right now we are always alive. –Amy Hempel
10. Your thorns are the best part of you. –Marianne Moore
Blurb
The war between Apollyon and the Trihune has begun.
Lucas scours the street in need of a fix. He captures his enemy instead of kills. Spins lies instead of truth. Seeks darkness instead of light. So close to the edge with no concern for the fall.
The map was foretold. Its key long lost.
Sent on a mission to find the key necessary to defeat Apollyon, Lucas meets Kate. Fiery, powerful, unable-to-touch-any-object Kate. As his feelings for her grow, the addiction inside him wanes.
Until he learns she is not meant for him.
Find the key. Find the way and triumph.
His future with Kate is bleak. The darkness, too hard to control. The key, still lost.
Can Lucas win the battle raging inside his body in order to win the war rising on the streets?
Bio
RB Austin enjoys torturing dogs (dressing her Cairn terrier in knitted sweaters and booties), embarrassing her daughter (singing in the car . . . at the top of her lungs . . . with the windows open . . . at a stop light), and indulging in the second deadliest sin (chocolate, Swedish fish, chocolate, sour patch watermelons, and chocolate).
This author’s love of the sun puts in her in the more-than-likely-not-a-vampire category, unless you’re referring to the bloodsuckers in her Trihune series, then all bets are off.
She likes stalkers! . . . Well, not the creepy kind. So if you’re not creepy, she’d love to meet up with you on Facebook or Twitter.
Where to find RB…
Happy Release Day!
Quilts on the Grand Show – June 6, 2015
It was one of those spur-of-the-moment ideas that seemingly came out of nowhere. But thinking back, I do recall hearing about the “Quilts on the Grand Show” for several weeks before the actual event. The advertisements appeared in local papers, and several establishments—including the library branches—proudly displayed the work of these talented artisans.
When I found myself with several free hours on that Saturday afternoon in early June, I headed up to Fergus, a short thirty-minute drive away. Having never quilted, I didn’t anticipate spending too much at the show and planned on visiting other shops in the area.
Continue reading on Catherine Castle’s blog.
In an earlier post, several visitors commented that I was seeing mermaids everywhere. But I didn’t have to look too far to discover this week’s topic. Earlier this month, my local newspaper (Guelph Mercury) featured the following article: “Mermaids making a splash.”
Guelph Mercury – September 5, 2015
Here are some highlights…
Mermaid Raina a.k.a. Stephanie Brown is the co-founder of Halifax Mermaids, a company that employs mermaids to provide environmental education. Wearing realistic tails and shell hairpieces, the mermaids perform at birthday parties, sandcastle festivals, and workshops at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.
In addition to entertaining their enthusiastic audiences, the mermaids teach children about the ocean food chain, microplastic pollution, and the importance of recycling. Learning about the ocean and empowering people toward change are the primary goals of this fast-growing, one-year-old company.
To keep up with demand, the founders applied for and obtained a $10,000 small business grant. This extra funding will be used to hire more mermaids and book more events. They also plan to purchase a mobile tank that will allow them to travel across Canada.
About Stephanie…
In 2007, Stephanie decided to combine her education in child and youth development and her love of mermaids and launch a career as an independent mermaid. An excellent choice that has enabled Stephanie to keep in shape and manage her chronic illness and pain.
Having experienced a difficult childhood and benefitted from such programs as Make-A-Wish, Stephanie pays it forward by visiting sick children in hospitals. During these visits, she wears her tail and uses a wheelchair to make her rounds.
I’m happy to feature Katie Hamstead’s new release…
Blurb
When Donna is sent back in time to Classical Athens, she’s furious at Dr. Stephens for sending her against her wishes. Then a Greek soldier purchases her to be his wife.
She’s forced to learn a new language and culture, and faces her fears of never returning to her own time. The society hates her, especially because they think she’s an Amazon, which forces her to confront her issues—being compared to her genius brother, borderline abusive friends, and a cheating boyfriend.
But her husband, Peleus, is kind and patient. Although against her best judgment, she allows him into her heart. He counters all the negative voices from her past, but those voices drive a wedge between them. She must let go of her fears, her inhibitions, and insecurities, and admit her feelings, or she could lose him and the life they’ve built.
Buy Links
Amazon (US) | Amazon (Australia)
Bio
Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughter and their dog.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She currently works as an Acquisitions Editor with Curiosity Quills Press to help support her family.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife and mother. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.p
Where to find Katie…
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Welcome to my Second Acts Series!
Today, we have author and fellow Sister of Suspense Marian Lanoutte/Merry Holly sharing a lifelong passion for writing.
Here’s Marian!
Briefly describe your first act.
I always joked that I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. My career choices was acting or writing. But my parents made it clear from an early age, they wouldn’t pay for those kinds of degrees. Teaching or accounting was their recommendations. I figured I’d show them and turned down college for a temporary job as an office manager that lasted ten years. My father told me I’d regret the decision, but I was eighteen and headstrong.
In my first act I was busy working with no real goal. Well, my father was right. At thirty I headed back to school and got my Bachelors of Science in Accounting.
What triggered the need for change?
Believe it or not, our office was totally manual at the time. My boss (one of the greatest I ever had) suggested we take classes to learn to use computers. Our trustees mentioned they wanted to computerize the process. Well, my husband and I, and my boss and his wife signed up at a local high school in their adult education program. The course was an introduction to computers and their uses. The four of us arrived for class the first night and discovered it was cancelled for lack of interest.
Disappointed, my husband and I drove straight to the local college and signed up for a basic computer class. I loved it (I could be a professional student discovered) and decided it was time to work on my degree.
My second act was triggered by a health issue. I discovered I had severe blockages in the heart and required by-pass surgery. During the recovery period (six months) I looked through my computer and discovered all the stories I’ve written over the years, I never shared with anyone. To aid in my recovery and keep my mind sharp, I started my first novel.
After surgery the limit for a by-pass patient is eight pounds. In the scheme of life that’s not a lot of weight. Your vacuum weights around ten pounds or more to give you a comparison. My husband to ensure I didn’t lift more brought me a notebook which weighed less than two pounds.
In three months I had my first draft of If I Fail, A Jake Carrington mystery. Since then I haven’t looked back. I now have three complete novels in the series (the last one Mated for Life is in the editing process,) and several published novellas.
Where are you now?
I’m back in my accounting career and continue to write in the evenings. The accounting is a necessary evil, and the writing is a joy. I’m sorry I didn’t follow my dreams and pursue my writing earlier in life. But I’m a firm believer things happen for a reason.
Do you have advice for anyone planning to pursue a second act?
Do your research. I wrote a first draft and sent it out to every agent on the planet. Not knowing the steps to a successful novel. The book, Loss of Power, is still sitting in a drawer. A wonderful story, that I love, which needs a ton of work. If it wasn’t for a nice editor at a big publishing house and her advice, I’d still be banging my head on the wall. She suggested I join a writing group and take some online classes to learn the craft. It was the best advice I got pertaining to my writing. And it made sense. Didn’t I have to take classes to learn accounting.
Any affirmations or quotations you wish to share?
Yes, I love Stephen Kings advice in On Writing. The book is wonderful. This quote is one taken from it.
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” ― Stephen King
Marian’s Books
Buy Links – Season of Thrills
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | Kobo | iTunes
Where to find Marian…
Website | Amazon | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads
Joanne here!
Marian, thanks for sharing your inspiring journey. If you ever run out of story ideas, consider writing your memoirs.
I’m thrilled to welcome Soul Mate author L.D. Rose to the Power of 10 series. Today, L.D. shares the reasons behind her avid interest in the paranormal.
Here’s LD!
1. I was accused of being a vampire in the first grade.
Yep. That’s right. I went to an all-girls Catholic school for kindergarten and first grade (my mother yanked me out before second grade for acting out—oops!). My classmates already thought I was weird since I spoke broken English (my first language was Portuguese and I didn’t go to preschool; I learned English from Sesame Street). All of us kids were playing a game of tag at recess and I tripped on a rock and sliced my finger open. I immediately put my hand in my mouth to suck the blood away (c’mon, didn’t you do that when you were a kid?!). The girls freaked out and ran away from me, screaming vampire. I guess it didn’t help that I had a widow’s peak, dark hair and pale skin. I had no idea what a vampire was, but my feelings were hurt and I started to cry.
This was obviously quite traumatic since the concept of a vampire invaded my brain and I became obsessed with learning (and writing!) about them. 😉
2. I grew up in a haunted house.
Yep, that’s right too! My family was poor growing up and we bounced from apartment to apartment when I was a toddler. My parents bought a house when I was about five, both of them incredibly excited to have a home.
Too bad it was haunted, haha!
This could be a whole blog post in and of itself (and will be soon!) but my parents’ little Cape was over a hundred years old and two ghosts apparently haunted the premises (an eight year old boy and an elderly woman who died in the upstairs bathroom; later, my deceased German Shepard made a few ghostly appearances too). I never actually saw them, but their roaming footsteps, cold patches, whispers and little games such as dropping the blinds, turning off the radio and the occasional “push” made their presences unmistakably clear. I have no doubt there’s a ghostly world among us, no matter how much my logical doctor brain wants to argue it.
3. My first memorable books were horror stories.
Thanks to my vampire accusation, I began to read horror stories—a lot of them! My absolute favorite books as a kid were the SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK series by Alvin Schwartz. I couldn’t stop staring at the creepy images and rereading the melodious yet disturbing passages. My absolute favorite was THE HEARSE SONG and I used to sing it constantly while jump roping outside like the freaky little kid I was. As I grew older, I transitioned to R.L. Stine, Clive Barker and Stephen King, then it was all downhill from there.
See, kids? Be careful what you call your classmates!
4. Naturally, my favorite movies were horror movies growing up.
Gremlins. Ghostbusters. Poltergeist. The Exorcist. Friday the 13th. Nightmare on Elm Street. Halloween. Jaws. The Shining. Silence of the Lambs. CLASSICS! Although the horror movie industry has sorely disappointed me as an adult, these were my most memorable movies. My parents would let me watch a few of the more “benign” ones, but I usually snuck out of my room in the middle of the night (or hit the theaters) to watch the more graphic films.
5. My first writing ventures were horror stories.
Surprise, surprise! I’ve been writing for as long as I remember. The first actual “story” I wrote was on a typewriter at ten years old. It was called “The Secret Door”, about fifteen pages long, and starred a haunted house that held a portal to another dimension (no kidding!). My first ever publication is a short story in an anthology called “Horrors of History” (Fey Publishing) and it’s about two depression-era gangsters who get more than they bargained for during a bank heist (two words: zombie cops). I plan to do a lot more with these two boys in the future, since I loved writing them so much. Every story I’ve written has a preternatural edge to it—I just can’t help it, it’s part of who I am.
6. I wanted to be a paranormal investigator.
As a teenager, I used to raid abandoned houses (particularly those rumored to be haunted), trek into the woods after dark in hopes of running into a cult (or at least see a hanging body), and I played Ouija way too much (I’ve had some interesting experiences with that demonic game, let me tell you!). I know it sounds crazy but I loved to be scared; it was a rush, an addiction even, and my morbid curiosity never ceased to be satisfied. I never got into the real complex “ghost hunting” with detectors and such, but I still visit the occasional haunted spot (although my sixth sense has petered out, unfortunately). My hubby is quite averse to the supernatural world, so now I tend to explore it through writing and art. That and an occasional episode of Ghost Hunters. 😉
7. The type of music that draws me in most is rock, metal and rap of a darker flavor.
The darker the lyrics, the better. I’m madly in love with Trent Reznor (he’s my musical god) and some of my favorites are Marilyn Manson, Deftones, Godsmack, In This Moment, Disturbed, Staind and Stonesour. DMX is my favorite rapper of all time ‘cause he’s brutal and doesn’t hold anything back in his music. There’s something exhilarating about expressing one’s fears and discussing subjects most people are uncomfortable with through music (or any art in general). I try to do the same with writing and give it the realism it deserves.
8. Jogging in cemeteries gives me peace.
So, do you think I’m a total weirdo yet? 😛 Although my running tends to be on the street and residential neighborhoods as of late, I used to run through cemeteries all the time in college. I loved the silence and desolation—no people, no cars, just me, the trees and the graves. My favorite used to be Oak Grove Cemetery in MA, where the infamous Lizzie Borden is buried. Many of them were hilly too, which made for a great workout.
9. My acceptance of death and all things disturbing helped me to become a doctor.
Amongst other things, of course, but having a thick skin and a gut of steel helps. I’m going to let you in on a little secret: being a doctor is terrifying. You end up in situations so crazy you can’t even imagine and you must act quickly. There’s no staring or jaw dropping or sudden paralysis. A career that starts out by asking you to take apart a human body requires some serious nerve…and that’s only the beginning! Not to mention you need to soothe the fears of others and understand them. Needles, scalpels, blood and gore is no biggie to me, but my hubby will drop like a bomb at the sight of his own blood or an uncapped syringe. Being able to resist passing out is a major plus.
10. My passion for the dark and sexy (like vampires!) led to my first novel being published by SMP.
Yes, I love writing horror, but I also love writing about love. The books I’m most invested in involve a romantic relationship with a ton of conflict (usually of the frightening variety) and after much chaos and destruction, the hero and heroine have their well-deserved HEA. Dark paranormal romance and urban fantasy became my favorite genres to read…and write! I strive to put my readers through the same rollercoaster of emotions the characters experience—terror, lust, anger, sadness, relief, and of course, happiness. I think both fear and love bring out the best and worst in us, and I try to depict those ups and downs in my work. Now that my debut novel is out in the world, I hope it’ll be something memorable, whether you love the paranormal, horror or a romance that keeps you teetering on the edge of your seat.
If you’re so inclined, check out RELEASING THE DEMONS, a dark paranormal romance, out now on Amazon! BUY LINK: http://amzn.com/B013GVCC7I
Thank you so much, Joanne, for having me on your blog! It’s been a lot of fun and I hope your readers enjoyed it too. 🙂
Bio
L.D. Rose is a neurotic physician by day, crazed writer by night, and all around wannabe superhero. She writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy, but she’s been known to delve into horror, sci-fi, and medical suspense on occasion. L.D. Rose is a member of the RWA, FF&P, NEC-RWA and CoLoNY. She currently lives in Rhode Island with her studly hubby, her hyperactive boxer, and her two devious cats.
Where to find L.D.
Website | Facebook | FB Author Page | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest | Tumblr
Joanne Guidoccio 