Author Spotlight - Barbara Hodges talks about Scattered Hearts and Valentines

February and Valentine's Day, you can't seem to think of one without the other. One of the contest giveaways I am offering is a c.d. of Scattered Hearts, an anthology of valentine stories, The Word Wizards, my local writers group wrote, oh, and it's published by Desert Breeze. I thought I'd tell you how it came about.

It was my idea to showcase the great writers in our group. When I first offered it, an anthology of Valentine's Day stories, the response wasn't great…ugh, hearts and flowers. No, I wanted something beyond the usual fare, just somewhere in the story you had to mention February 14th. Skepticism was still the reigning emotion.

Randolph Tower, who is one of my co-authors, came to the rescue. At our next meeting he came in with a story for Scattered Hearts. His story, Baby Bottles, told of a young pilot during the Viet Nam war. The pilot used small baby bottles, filled with water and frozen to take with him on his missions, the bottles kept him cool and provided water when they melted. The young pilot's wife gives them to him on Valentine's Day, pink ones with a red heart drawn on each.

It was all we needed. The stories in Scattered Hearts involve a senior lady dealing with dementia, a young widow needing to know why her husband went on a tragic Valentine's Day cruise without her, and a bi-racial couple fighting prejudice in the 1950's. If you are the lucky winner, you are going to love the stories and poems in Scattered Hearts; they are all a different way of looking at love. Happy Valentine's Day!

Amazon.com buy link:

The Emerald Dagger
http://www.amazon.com/Daradawn-Book-Two-Emerald-ebook/dp/B0073NV36M/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328145110&sr=1-1

Desert Breeze buy link

http://stores.desertbreezepublishing.com/-strse-258/Daradawn-Book-Two-The/Detail.bok


My Website

http://barbaramhodges.com

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Featured FEB 2010 Release - Scattered Hearts

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Love knows no boundaries, accepts no limits. It warms your blood, makes your heart pound. Love can overpower like a giant wave, or enter your soul on silent wings. And sometimes ... sometimes ... it's heart-breaking.

Scattered Hearts goes beyond traditional Valentine's Day tales, offering the reader a collection of stories and poetry, as creative as the thirteen individuals who envisioned them. Read about a boy's surprising choice for birthday party guests. Fly with a Viet Nam pilot whose links to love are baby bottles. Stand alongside a young woman who must face down society and family to be with her soul mate.

These are three of the stories and poems that will touch your heart, and perhaps offer a new way of viewing the one day of the year dedicated to honoring love. Love isn't easy, but, the trip is always worth the ride

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EXCERPT:

Baby bottles full of ice and dripping with condensation, bulged from my flight suit pockets in a very unmilitary manner.

I climbed through 10,000 feet altitude over Da Nang, South Viet Nam. My wingman rode tight and in perfect lock step with my every move. Operation Rolling Thunder was underway. After long and tedious deliberation, the politicians in Washington had decided we would bomb North Viet Nam... again.

The targets all picked in Washington, with more consideration given to politics than to any strategy, frequently were worthless and always dangerous. As proof of this the objective of today's mission lay to the area west of Hanoi, which required an approach through the heaviest concentration of missiles and the biggest group of MIG fighters in the north.

Do not hit the airfield at Hanoi where all the MIG's are based. Do not fire on anything in the city of Hanoi, where all the missile batteries are located. Let them fire at you, but do not fire back.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

In 1994 author Elaine Bierbaurer moved to Santa Maria, CA. Among the things she left behind was an active writers group. Needing one for her creative outlet, she set out to form one in her new home town.

She and a fellow resident of Casa Grande Mobile Estates, Sylva Mularcyk, sought out fellow authors, and what would become The Santa Maria California Word Wizards came into being.

The first meeting of Word Wizards happened at Café Monet with five core members. Three of the five are still part of the group.

At first, Word Wizards met on Tuesday evenings. And they still do, but a year ago a daytime group started; and again, fifteen years later, the meetings are held at Café Monet.

Word Wizards has grown to sixteen core members, all talented authors.

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Scattered Hearts on Amazon: SCATTERED HEARTS