Introducing the Wonderful and Talented Author, Keira Kroft

                                                                     

Today my little zombie friends, I'm turning my blog over to a good friend, Keira Kroft. I'll let her tell you about herself and her book.

Take it away, Keira!!!

Hello, my name is Keira Kroft and I am the author of romantic suspense, Glow in the Dark,

Marie has been so kind as to let me and my hot fireman visit her awesome blog today.

 

A little tidbit about Glow in the Dark.

 

Single mother Corey Nolan thinks that her life has made a turn for the better, when she meets three handsome firemen from Chicago’s engine 25. Until her daughter’s life is threatened and someone tries to burn Corey and her family alive.

                                                                   

 

Corey is a bartender and would like to share the following drink recipe with you.

 750 mls southern comfort

12 ozs lemonade concentrate (thawed)

12 ozs orange juice concentrate (thawed) 

2 liters of sprite

2 pints of Rainbow sherbet

 

Place all the ingredients in a large punch bowl. It stays cold for quite a while.

 

Enjoy~ Corey Nolan, Character in Glow in the Dark

 

 

                                     Jake the fireman shares this safety tip.

 

                                                                                                                                                          

Make sure all family members know what to do in the event of a fire. Draw a floor plan with at least two ways of escaping every room. Make a drawing for each floor. Dimensions do not need to be correct. Make sure the plan shows important details: stairs, hallways and windows that can be used as fire escape routes

 

Test windows and doors—do they open easy enough? Are they wide enough? Or tall enough?

Choose a safe meeting place outside the house.

Practice alerting other members. It is a good idea to keep a bell and flashlight in each bedroom.

Be Safe~ Jake Gilroy, Character in Glow in the Dark

 

Complete synopsis

Women melt around smokin’ hot Chicago fire fighter Jake Gilroy like butter in a hot pan, getting him dubbed the clichéd and rather false moniker…“the ladies man”. Yet, he never had an interest in anyone, until he meets Corey. She’s different and doesn’t seem to be turning into a pool of goo around him. He wants her and must have her. But she is already taken so he can’t have her…can he?

At first Corey Nolan is resistant to Jake’s advances until a series of events proves that the love between her and her dead beat boyfriend have dissipated a long time ago. It’s then that she begins to think that she and Jake just might have a chance at something real. Until—it becomes clear that someone is stalking her and killing off the people she loves and that her need for Jake may be more than desire—it may be a matter of life and death...

 

                                                                      

 

 

The first Chapter of Glow in the Dark

 

Prologue

 

The doorway stood empty. The entire corridor appeared abandoned, except for the occasional nurse scurrying by, even that was very far and few between.

Please God, please.

Corey Nolan surveyed her languid five-year old. One minute she had been fine—in the blink of an eye she was here, hooked up to a ventilator to help her breathe, a tube stuck up her nose, another one down her throat and a needle jammed in her tiny hand. The cuff on her arm wrapped around to check her blood pressure periodically. A gray plastic clip clamped to her tiny finger measured her oxygen levels.

Please, Molly needs to wake up.

She wasn’t sure that imploring a higher power would work. But it didn’t make one bit of difference; she was willing to try anything. Whatever it took, anything she had to do… it would be done.

Corey released her hands from their prayer position, and slowly stood up from the orange plastic chair, moving her head from side to side until her neck cracked. Her muscles were tight from sitting half the night in the chilly room. The neatly molded corners and freshly waxed taupe-colored floor, with scattered orange triangles and lack of curtains or any homey touches whatsoever, gave the room an unfriendly aura. The large round clock adhered to the wall revealed that it was after nine in the morning already.

Where was her mother? What could be keeping her? Added fear and anxiety was not something she wanted to deal with right now. Her heart pounded as she glanced at her daughter once again. Strength and positive thinking was what Molly needed right now. Corey couldn’t afford to break down.

Molly was so sweet, innocent, and trusting. Corey would have done anything to protect her. It was too late. She couldn’t protect Molly just like her parents couldn’t protect her. She stifled a sob.

Trudging to the other side of the room, she laid a hand against the locker that passed for a closet. The cold metal beneath the gray paint gave her a chill. Images of the man that had made her life unbearable for everyone she loved swarmed in her vision. His face appeared in her head, laughing at her, tormenting her.

“Go away!” she screamed.

Slowly, she turned toward the hall wondering if anyone had heard. They would have probably thought she was crazy. They’d take one look at her and lock her up, maybe throw the key away. If any stranger witnessed her outburst, they would not have understood what the last year had been like for her—for all her loved ones.

Corey threw another glance at her daughter. Her tirade didn’t breed any response from a comatose Molly, or any of the staff for that matter.

Jerking the door open, she grabbed the blanket and clutched it to her chest, willing the tension away. She needed to stay sane, in control—anything to help her daughter. Composing herself and releasing her tight grip, she shook the blanket open as she walked over to Molly. She then tucked her daughter in tight and read her a story, just as she had done every night for five years. Except now, it wasn’t dark outside and Molly wasn’t tucked safe in her own bed. She’d been told it was good to read to patients in a coma. Halfway through The Cat in the Hat, her eyes brimmed with despair, and she couldn’t make out the rest of the words.

“I love you,” she whispered, her voice cracking. She set the book aside and stroked Molly’s hair. The usual silkiness was dull and luster-lacking. Smoothing a stray strand, she drew away and straightened. Her daughter’s pale face didn’t move. No twitch of her eyes, no quirk of her mouth, no flutter of her lips when she breathed out during sleep.

“Stay strong, Corey.” The words said out loud didn’t help. She should have been telling Molly to be brave, but her own strength was trickling away with every hour Molly lay silent.

Desperation formed a knot in her throat. Needing a minute away to pull herself back together, she whirled around quickly, almost knocking a vase over, but catching it before it shattered to the floor—just as her nerves threatened to do. Corey could barely put it back on the bureau in one piece, her hands trembling. Stifling the sob that threatened to erupt, she bolted to the bathroom.

She stood in front of the sink and stared into the mirror. Leaning in, she pulled the taunt skin under her eyes downward. The dark circles looked terrible along with the black streak marks over her skin. If Jake could see her now, he probably wouldn’t think she was all that great of a catch. Damn, how embarrassing am I with all this soot on my face, my arms, and my clothes?

“Who cares right now?” she mumbled, and then marched back to her daughter’s bedside. She plopped down into the chair and gently placed Molly’s IV-ed hand into hers. Careful not cause her daughter any more pain, she gripped those tiny, precious fingers. “I don’t know what I can do? I can tell you that I will love you—for always. You breathe a special life into the large part of my heart. If you go away, it will die.” Emotion choked her. She sobbed, unable to hold it in any longer.

She didn’t know how much time had passed. Deep breaths were the only thing that could calm her at this point. With her free hand, she pulled out her cell phone and pressed a number on the keypad. Placing the phone to her ear, she kept her gaze on Molly; her serene expression brought another rush of tension to Corey’s chest. She breathed harder, trying to control the uneasy pacing of her heart.

“I am trying your grandmother again. She is late as usual.”

Molly continued to lay unmoving. Corey bit her lip as the ringing sounded through the device. Come on, Mom, where are you? I need you. This isn’t like you. Faith Nolan was still not picking up.

Corey dropped the phone onto the bureau and stood up, anger surging through her. With arms stretched out, she glared at the ceiling. “Is this my punishment, you tell me? Yes, you—that thing, that being I assume is watching over us, protecting us. Ha! That day I was told by my doctor that my heart was too weak to carry Molly—” She fell to her knees. “I did it anyway. So, this is it, my penance, right?”

Crawling to Molly’s bedside, Corey gripped her baby’s small fingers. “I won’t let you take her, I won’t.”

 

 

Available for purchase

Decadent Publishing

Amazon

 

 

Thank you for stopping by.                       

Cheers,

Keira Kroft

 

You can find me at:

http://keirakroft.blogspot.com/

http://twitter.com/#!/KeiraKroft66

http://www.facebook.com/keirakroft

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Keira-Kroft/171750936213533

Life with Fred and Lucy-part two-Security

                                                                    

 

The last time I posted about life with Fred and Lucy, I promised to tell you how we managed the security for our grocery store. If you think the C.I.A. was good at spying on people, then you should have known Fred. My father and mother were both OCD, especially about being robbed.

                                                                 

                  Our Grocery Store at 15th and Porter Streets

The grocery store was a family business and everyone was put to work. Along with the canned foods, dairy products and luncheon meats, my parents sold penny candies, loose potato chips and loose pretzel sticks. This was in the early fifties and you  were given a small paper bag to fill with candy, chips or pretzels.

                                                                            

Most people were honest, but every once in a while a group of strangers (kids from another neighborhood) would come in and steal the candy. They would do this every few days and this drove my father bat shit crazy.
 

You didn’t make a lot of money owning a store and the profits were earned a penny at a time. What did Fred do? My sister Jane, me and, my three cousins, Anthony, Jerry and Michael became Fred's front line of defense.
 

Acting every bit like General George Patton, my father prepared his own version of the Battle of the Bulge. The only difference was the bulge we would be fighting was the stuffed pockets of the teenaged boys stealing our candy. It was a brilliant plan! My father installed a buzzer that would buzz on all three floors: 2^nd, 1rst, and basement. No matter where his workers were, we would hear that stinking buzzer.

                                                    I hated that buzzer!
                                                                 

Anyway, when he pressed the buzzer, we kids would drop whatever we were doing and run to our secret observation points: I hid behind the pasta shelf, peeking through the boxes where I could grab hold of the thief’s hand in mid-theft. Jane had the potato bin where she was in charge of tossing potato grenades at the enemy; 
                                                                    

Cousin Anthony stood at the door to prevent the hoodlums' escape while cousins Jerry and Michael stood in front of the penny candy display. It was a success!! Word spread throughout the neighborhood, and soon ,the teenaged thieves stopped raiding the store. My father’s ‘Battle of the Candy Bulge’ was so successful, that the other neighborhood grocery stores adopted the buzzer weapon.

My mother never had to resort to the buzzer, because all the neighborhood kids were afraid of her. She had a wicked stare.

                                                            

                                             

Next episode: How we became secret agents

Holy Macaroni!! I'm in a Contest for Best Blogger.

My friends and family always tell me how funny and interesting my blogs are, but they have to be

nice to me; I'm friends with ghosts and zombies. But when someone from England contacts you and

tells you that you've been entered into a contest with nine other bloggers, then that makes me feel

good about the stories that I write for Gilbertcuriosities and as contributing staff for Biff Bam Pop!


The Contest starts NOW, and I'm very excited. And, even if I lose to a worthy fellow blogger, that

is perfectly fine, because I made into the contest. Not bad for an old granny.


So please do Steampunk, ghost hunting, zombie fighting Granny a big favor, dear; vote for me.

Click on this site  http://www.skelat.com/the-top-ten.html#ixzz2j3VG8pPK follow the instructions

and click on my picture.



             I'm sure you don't want my zombie clone to come around to remind you, right?


                                                                     

Grimm Returns with a New Season of Horror

                                                                           

I couldn’t wait for Grimm to return, especially with last season’s cliff hanger where Nick (David Giuntoli) was poisoned by the voodoo priest, Baron Samedi (Reg E Cathey) and thrown into a coffin to be taken out of the country to Austria per order of Eric Renard (James Frain), the corrupt half-brother of Captain Renard (Sasha Roiz).
                                                                         

This season opened with Nick being loaded onto a private jet, while his friends the zombies. No not the Walking Dead type of zombies, but people under the control of Baron Samedi’s green spit. Yes the Baron is a monster and one of many that Nick must fight having inherited the job from a long line of Grimms.

                                                                          

Monroe (Silas Weir Mitchell), Juliette (Bitsie Tulloch) and Rosalee (Bree Turner) are busy fighting back the people who were changed (at least mentally) by the Baron into a raving mindless mob.
                                                                                   

Luckily Rosalie concocted a large batch of anti- poison and is able to save the box car full of “zombies”

                                                                              

                                                   

But, when the Captain, Hank ( Russell Hornsby), Monroe and Juliette finally figure out how Nick will be taken from them, they’re too late to stop the jet, and off it goes into the wild blue yonder. Baron Samedi is feeling pretty good with the successful kidnapping until Nick breaks his way out of the coffin.

                                                                     

Nick doesn’t react the same way to the Baron’s green spit and is able to ignore the Baron’s futile attempts at mind control. They struggle and the plane crashes before it gets very far. The show ends with Nick stumbling away from the crash site and into a biker bar, where he proceeds to tear the place apart.  By the time his friends reach the bar, Nick is gone. While this is going on, Adalind, (Claire Coffee) is having her own problems with Stefania(Shohreh Aghadashloo) and Frau Pech (Mary McDonald-Lewis), but in the end, she gets her mojo back.

                                                                          

I don’t know if I can survive until next Friday to find out what happens to Nick!!! I love this show, and as far as I’m concerned, this is how you do a good supernatural cop show. Watch Grimm on Friday nights at 9 p.m. on NBC followed by Dracula starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers

Life with Lucy and Fred

                                                      

               

                                                    Lucy and Fred

I’ve been posting old photos of my family for the past month or so. The pictures, some taken before 1956, are of my family’s grocery store that was located on 15^th and Porter Street in South Philadelphia.
 
My father learned all about running a store from his father, who had a grocery store at 17^th and Moore.  My father had been working as a trolley driver with the PTC, and I loved riding on the trolley. I especially enjoyed the times my father would clang the bell at each street corner. But, my father wanted to own his own business and one day, he took me to check out a property that was for sale. 

                                                      

                

          Dad cleaning the ham before selling it. Uncle Pat in the background

This was a family business, and back in those days, the government looked the other way about children working, especially if it was a family business. Not only was I helping out in the store at the age of eight, but so were my sister Jane and my cousins, Jerry and Anthony. As soon as my brother Mike and baby sister Lucy were old enough, they also joined the work force.  Growing up in the family business was an education. We not only worked long hours, seven days a week, but we had to keep up our grades in school.

                                                           

          The Maratea kids take a break from the store and visit Atlantic City

It was a learning experience that I wouldn’t trade for all the money in the world. I learned so many things. I could slice luncheon meat without losing my fingers and I could do my homework sitting on the edge of the onion bin without falling in.

Working in that store is what made me so people friendly, open minded and compassionate, today. My father would often give credit to people who didn’t have enough money for food, saying to them, “Pay me when you have it.” And bless their hearts, every one of them did pay their bill, once they were back on their feet.

                                                           

                                              Dad, Mom and me

Now, let me tell you about Lucy and Fred. My father was a hard worker, very strict, but he was also a practical joker. One year, he had my Aunt Louise believing that he had a pigeon coup on the roof of our two story building. Why, you ask? He needed an excuse for her husband to join the secret card game. My father had a bum leg and he told Aunt Louise that Uncle Jack would need to climb the ladder and feed the pigeons. After several months,  Aunt Louise found out about the card game and she went ballistic. But no one ever stayed angry with my father for too long. He was too funny.

                                                                    

My mother Lucy was a diva who was stuck in South Philly. She was into women's liberation before the first bra was ever burnt. But, like Lucy Ricardo, my mother was also a disaster waiting to happen. Her driving skills were horrid and, our neighbors would call their children home whenever my mom  would head for her car. As a frequent passenger in the car, I didn't blame them.

                                                                

The picture at the top of the blog shows the most common expression my parents wore when dealing with their four overly active children. We were bad. My father often held his hand over his heart, yelling, “What the hell are you goofballs doing now?”

                                                           

We feared my mother more that we did our dad. My mom was able to throw a shoe at us and that sucker could turn corners. She never missed her target (us). If I’m not mistaken, even the heat seeking missiles that the military uses today, couldn't match my mother’s record of direct hits.

                                                         

Next week, I’ll tell you how we protected ourselves from thieves

Steampunk Granny needs your Votes!!

 

 

I need all my Facebook, Twitter and Google + friends and family to help me win this contest. I've

 

been  picked along with nine other talented bloggers to win the award for blogger of the year!!!

 

 

                                  The voting begins on November 1rst

                  

The Blogger of the Year 2014

Below is our Wonderful Top Ten. Vote, share and help your favorite gain the most votes by simply clicking their picture below and placing them in the top three before the 15th of December. All votes are only counted once. Pictures and names are taken from Twitter.


Voting begins on the 1/11/2013, the pictures currently are disabled.

Jonathon Fletcher Christa Simpson

Carol Hedges Carole Remy

Dallas Dixon Marie Gilbert

Garrard Hayes Claudia Burgoa

K.M. Francoeur Scarlett Flame

This is what you'll see and the voting begins on November 1rst.

Read more: http://www.skelat.com/voting.html

 

 

The voting will start soon. Check out the site below and start clicking away as soon as the day

 

arrives. blevov!!!!!!pipic

 

lyFac Skelat.com

http://www.skelat.com/voting.html

 

 

                                  I won't beg, nag, or torture my friends to vote for me.

 

 

 

                                           But I might send my zombie clone after you.

 

                                                                         

 

The Gilded Festival

                                                                   

Hey, my little zombie snacks. Check out this site. My friends at Dorian's Parlor are pulling together one hell of a great Steampunk Event. You don't want to miss this!!!!!

Greetings Ladies and Gents! We have been busily working our way into preparing for the first ever Gilded Festival, and as a result it is with great pleasure that we announce the first round of Programming Listings! There you shall find a great many a thing, including child-friendly panels, contests, how-to, and special events! Please go here to take a peek at all the glorious things we have in store for you!
And speaking of special events, we are especially excited to announce two special events… within the grand event that is The Gilded Fest!


We are happy to announce that The Gilded Festival is now rolling out Performer and Guest announcements! We already have a grand lineup;
Performers…
Voltaire
Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer
CogHead
Divine Hand Ensemble
Psyche Corporation
Walter Sickert and the Army of Broken Toys
Guests…
Adam Smith a.k.a. Phineas Phlensing, Esq.
Countessa Lenora
Steampunk Boba Fett (John F. Strangeway)
Triell Freschi
…and we will be adding even more as we get closer to the big event!
We are equally happy to remind you that tickets for The Gilded Festival are on sale now! There are various choices, including children and family tickets, so please be sure to look over the options before you buy. You have until September 15th, 2013 to take advantage of the low ticket prices. After that date, ticket pricing goes up. You can visit our TicketLeap page to get your tickets now.


Hotel Rooms Also, hotel room reservations for The Gilded Festival are still available! But be sure to book your room sooner than later, as we highly anticipate our entire block to fill up quickly! Hotel room prices start at $89.00 (USD/per night). You can visit our DoubleTree Hotel registration site to make your reservation now. Alternatively, you may also call the hotel to reserve your room. If so please be sure to tell them your are booking for the Gilded Festival, and the reservation code is SKE.