The Collins Case - Free Nov. 8 - 12

Title: The Collins Case
Series: Heartfelt Cases (Book 1)
Author: Julie C. Gilbert
Release Date: October 31, 2012
Genre: Christian Mystery
Presented by: As You Wish Tours
Banner Made by: Camelia Miron Skiba

BLURB

Working for the FBI certainly isn’t a “normal” job, but Special Agent Julie Ann Davidson has never encountered a case as personal as this one. Although not officially assigned to the case, Ann and her partner, Patrick Duncan, take up the cause of finding Rachel, Jason, and Emily Collins. As if that task wasn’t enough, Ann and Patrick also have a baffling case of internet thievery to investigate.

Who is Christopher Collins and what about his past is endangering his family? Where are Rachel and the kids being held? Where is God in the midst of chaos? Will Ann and Patrick arrive in time or will they find only pain?

 EXCERPT

Rachel Collins had a perfect life. She loved her job as a medical doctor at a small, private practice in Pennsylvania. Her husband—Dr. Christopher Collins—was easy on the eyes and wonderful in every way that mattered. Their two young children brought much joy—and good-natured chaos—into their lives. God had certainly blessed them as a family. At least, she thought so anyway. Though he never put down her religion, Chris never promised to believe a word of it either.

Thank you for being good to us, Father, Rachel thought, tilting her head to the side and watching her husband crawl around on the floor with the children. She only wished that nights like this weren’t so rare. She kept fairly regular hours, but Chris worked at Millcreek Community Hospital, so his schedule had to be a little more flexible.

Sandy probably gets to see the kids more than we do, Rachel mused bleakly, thinking of the girl she hired to watch the kids while she worked. Tonight, Chris had persuaded a friend to switch shifts so he could spend time at home with the family.

What did you use to bribe him, Chris?

“No, Emily. Not yours,” said Jason, green eyes ablaze to make his point.

Rachel smiled, amused by the strained patience in her five-year-old son’s tone as he addressed his little sister.

“I have?” asked Emily, tears welling up in her warm brown eyes. The child’s bottom lip stuck out, and she shoved a finger into her mouth. Her brother grunted irritably but let her keep the building block clutched in her chubby right hand.

It amused Rachel that Emily, at the ripe old age of three, could manipulate her brother so well.

You’ll break hearts when you’re older, Emily Adele Collins.

About the Author
Julie mainly confines her writing to three genres: Christian inspirational, YA real-world science fiction, and normal science fiction.

She likes teaching, writing, reading, sleeping, doing puzzles, and hanging out with friends. (Not necessarily in that order)

Writing has made her super picky about the things she reads but normally, her reading list includes something that fits under the thriller, mystery, science fiction, or fantasy.

Occasionally, she attempts short poetry. The poems turn into songs, which she sings with abandon when nobody's looking.

STALKER LINKS
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Goodreads Thursday | Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde

Title:  Cloaked in Red

Author:  Vivian Vande Velde

Length:  127 Pages

Genre: Children's Fantasy

Released:  February 7, 2012

Blurb

So you think you know the story of Little Red Riding Hood, the girl with the unfortunate name and the inability to tell the difference between her grandmother and a member of a different species? Well, then, try your hand at answering these questions: Which character (not including Little Red herself) is the most fashion challenged? Who (not including the wolf) is the scariest? Who (not including Granny) is the most easily scared? Who is the strangest (notice we're not "not including" anyone, because they're all a little off.)? Who (no fair saying "the author") has stuffing for brains? Master storyteller Vivian Vande Velde crafts eight new stories involving one of the world's most beloved (and mixed-up) characters in literature. You may never look at fairy tales in quite the same way again.

My Review

**This review contains mild spoilers.**

Author's note:
Few authors can make their note laugh-out-loud funny, but Velde has a uniquely twisted style of telling things that either comes off charming or annoying. I'm in the charmed camp.

The Red Cloak
Brief Summary: Meg's mother dies an old, ratty cloak a vibrant, look-at-me red color.
Commentary: Probably the most straightforward of the Little Red Ridding Hood recountings.

The Red Riding Hood Doll
Brief Summary: Georgette is a skilled seamstress whose bad encounter with a snotty customer sparks a fit of creativity to give her something she longs for, but it turns out not exactly as she'd imagined it would.
Commentary: Velde does a nice job of using a few pages to make one care for Georgette, but the short story's ending is a little cliché.

Little Red Riding Hood's Family
Brief Summary: Starts out sounding like the real deal Riding Hood story, but ends up way cooler with some neat twists.
Commentary: So far, the most fun tale told.

Granny and the Wolf
Brief Summary: Nelda needs to fend off a zealous suitor.
Commentary: The "fine self" references were funny. A charming tale that reminded me a bit of a comedy routine. It also had a satisfying ending.

Deems the Wood Gatherer
Commentary: A humorous tale of a shortsighted woodsman.

Why Willy and His Brother Won't Ever Amount to Anything
Commentary: Isolda's just all right but I do love the twist at the end.

The Little Red Headache
Commentary: A wolf's tale.

Little Red Ridding Hood's Little Red Ridding Hood
Commentary: A cloak's tale. A satisfying end to a charming book.

Conclusion: Even if you have a passing interest in The Little Red Riding Hood story, you should get this book. The cover doesn't really fit it in my opinion, and there are some tales that are a tad boring, but overall...it's a pretty neat collection. It would make a great gift for a teen or preteen as well as a literature loving adult. The references to other stories are witty and satisfying.

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Teaser Tuesday | Ashlynn’s Dreams Chapter 27

“What’s this about, Dean?” asked Nadia’s momma. “Who is she?”

“Her name is Ashlynn,” Dr. Devya said.

“Jillian,” I said at the same time as Danielle.

He ignored us. “She was born while you were still with us, but I wanted her to grow up with a natural family for a while. You missed a lot by leaving when you did.”

“Would you have let me stay?” asked Nadia’s momma.

A look I didn’t understand passed between Nadia’s momma and Dr. Devya. He adjusted his suit. I wondered why he always wore a

suit, but it seemed like a bad time to ask. Suits just don’t seem comfortable. Well, come to think of it, Dr. Devya and Nadia’s momma seemed real uncomfortable in that moment.

“Would you have stayed?” Dr. Devya asked at last.

She thought a minute. “Probably not. Not after Brenton.”

“One experiment went wrong. It happens.”

“He was a little boy, Dean.”

“It was an accident.”

“It was an injustice,” Nadia’s momma fired back.

“Training makes them better.”

“It’s not supposed to kill them.”

“I agree.”

“Do you really?”

It was like watching a tennis match.

Their gazes locked and held. At last, Dr. Devya sighed and broke the eye contact, looking real sad. “Well, we did better with the subsequent subjects. You’ve never met Aiden, though you worked so hard to make him what he is. He’s quite a wonder. They’re all wonders, which brings me back to Ashlynn. She’s the dreamer I was searching for all those years, but she’s developed some anomalies, too.”

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Mystery Monday | A little about myself...

I’ve been asked to share a little about myself.

I’m currently a high school chemistry teacher in a public school. The journey to this position has been interesting and not necessarily the traditional route. I studied Biology in college but realized I didn’t want to do research or become a doctor. Upon re-evaluating my life as a college senior, I discovered that I loved science at the high school level, where I could explore a vast array of topics one right after the other. Since my college (The College of New Jersey, formerly Trenton State College) was already known as a teacher’s college, I had no qualms about applying there for graduate school.

After receiving a Master’s of Arts in Teaching from TCNJ, I got a job teaching biology at a public school. First year of teaching is always a rough year, but mine seemed particularly ill-fitted. The next year I landed back at my old high school teaching chemistry, where I learned that I actually loved the subject about 20x more than I enjoyed biology. Soon thereafter, I realized I wanted to return to college to get the last few credits I needed to be fully certified to teach chemistry. I stayed at my old high school for a total of 4 years before the opportunity arose for me to take on the necessary college courses needed for certification. I finished those classes December of 2012, took the Praxis II exams at the end of January, got the Praxis II exam scores the end of February, and signed for my new job March 15, 2013. God certainly opened and closed a lot of doors to bring me to this point, but I’m confident this is a good place for me.

Teaching’s a wonderful career. Teaching science is especially rewarding because most students can do way more than they give themselves credit for. Unlocking that potential is a satisfying challenge. Teaching at the high school level also affords chunked time off during the summer. Most people who aren’t teachers only hear that and think we have it easy, but they don’t really think about the countless nights and weekend hours spent grading, creating tests, worksheets, powerpoints, etc for lessons, or lesson planning. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact few non-teachers come to realize on their own. The time off in the summer allows me to indulge in a side career as a writer.

People have asked if I’d like to write full time instead of teaching, but the more I think about that question, the more I like the way things are, part teaching and part writing. Chemistry’s a very organized, orderly subject, while writing allows for a wide range of creative outlets. Science fiction is especially fun because pretty much anything goes as long as you can explain it well.

Thanks for listening,

Julie C. Gilbert

Sandra Bullock Holds Down Gravity with a Stellar Performance

This is not my type of movie, though it does contain plenty of things exploding. 
Gravity's about one woman's desperate fight to survive the harsh conditions of space when a routine maintenance turns absolutely deadly. I don't really keep up with actors and actresses too well, but I distinctly remember Sandra Bullock from light-hearted movies like Miss Congeniality. Gravity's a far different role. As Dr. Ryan Stone, audiences are treated to actual first-rate acting.

The story's way far-fetched and the plot's certainly out there, but at its heart, Gravity's a character driven tale of survival. The movie's screen time of 1:30 ish minutes fits it perfectly. There was one spot where I felt things were dragging a bit, but it was brief enough to not leave a total bad flavor for the film. 

I'm not much of a drama type movie goer, but I'd actually watch this one twice.

*** Spoiler Alert ***

(When I got to the end, I half expected to see scenes from the recent Tomb Raider game.)

Density Problems and Conversions Primer

The density formula Density = mass/ volume might be simple but once one starts switching up units, things can get very complicated quite quickly.

How do you know when to change units and what to change them to? Which units are which?

Some examples of mass units are grams (g) and kilograms (kg).
Some examples of volume units are cm³, mL, and L.
Density must have a mass component and a volume component as part of its unit. So things like g/mL, g/cm³ , kg/L. These are all examples of density units.

If a density problem does not ask you for a specific unit type, then you are free to choose which unit you would like to report your answer in. The problem itself will usually indicate when a unit change needs to take place.

Example:

If the density of a gas is 3.12 g/L, what is the mass of 648 cm³ of the gas?

cm^3 and L are different units of volume...therefore, they will not cancel one another.

You need to do a conversion to get them to match (be the same thing) so they will cancel. The "easier" conversion in this case would be to take 648 cm^3 and convert to L. "Fencepost" conversions illustrate this concept nicely, though they're a little hard to describe in words.

Take the 648 cm^3 and draw a line under it. Let the line spill over to the right a bit and put a vertical line down next to it (like a big plus sign with the starting value in the top left quadrant). In the bottom right quadrant, write the value you would like to cancel and the appropriate conversion value. In the top right quadrant, write the equivalent value of the unit you would like to convert to. 1 cm^3 = 1 mL. So, if I put 1 cm^3 in the bottom right quadrant and 1 mL in the top, I have now switched units to mL. Since 1000 mL = 1 L, I can now set up a second set of fencepost conversions. Continue your horizontal line right and draw another vertical hatch mark, creating another "+". In the bottom right quadrant, write 1000 mL (since this is the unit we would like to get rid of). In the top right, write 1 L. 

Multiply across the top and divide across the bottom. In other words, in this example, you end up dividing by 1000 to get .648 L.

The density formula was D = m/v, but if I'm solving for mass, I need to use this version of the formula:

mass = density x volume 

Now, plug in: mass =  (3.12 g/L) (.648 L) = 2.02 g

The units in the problem drove our conversions. I needed the volumes to match, so I forced cm^3 to become L.

If I had a density problem with a mass in kg and a volume in L, then my end unit would be kg/L. I could keep that unit unless the problem specified that I needed to report the answer in a particular unit.

Four Star (of 5) Man of Steel Review

***mild spoilers possible***
If this were a book review, I'd give it a 4/5. It was a decent action movie, though not one I'd immediately rush to see in the theaters another 2-3 times. If a few different sets of friends wanted to see it and I ended up seeing it twice though, it would be fine the second time around.

The Good: It's nice to see a decently done Superman movie that doesn't have him withering in front of kryptonite for half the film. There's a semi-decent balance of action and story development, though they could have done a little better fleshing out the characters. Amy Adams as Lois Lane is a good casting choice. Fight scenes were exciting for the most part.

The Bad: I say "semi-decent" balance of action and story development because there are definitely some SLOW sections. The movie opens up with his mother giving birth. Later it's explained that that's a big deal because it's the first live birth in centuries, but I remember thinking, "Good grief, I know this is an origin story but we don't have to go back THAT far."

The Tedious: The fight scenes, though lovely eye candy, got a bit tiresome after  awhile becuase it was like watching a fighting video game where both players put in a cheat code for invulnerability. Lots of buildings suffered in the making of this film, but the combatants suffered not a scratch.

The Interesting: The movie gave off vibes like half a dozen other movies and video games. The beginning sort of reminded me of Thor, opening up on a different planet with people in elaborate, ornate headgear. The bad guys ship at the end totally looked like a reaper from Mass Effect. The whole attacking a city thing looked like it could have come from the cut scenes of ME 3.  The falling buildings, sadly, reminded me of 9/11 documentaries.

Summary: This movie is worth seeing in the theaters and buying on dvd or bluray later, though if you waited for netflix, you'd probably still enjoy it. I'm one of those people who don't know everything about Superman, but perhaps that's a good thing in terms of enjoying the movie. I can enjoy it for what it is, not how it compares to past triumphs and travesties.