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The Art of Forgiveness

“It took a long time, but as soon as I let go of my anger and resentment, I was free. I dropped the chains I’d been carrying around like Ebenezer Scrooge and felt as if a single balloon could lift me off the ground and carry me to the sky.”

I wrote those words some time ago while working on a story in which my main character had been betrayed. She was suffocating under the weight of her own hostility and venom. As the writer who created this character, I understood her refusal to forgive. In fact, I was quite sure I didn’t want her to . . . 

continue reading:

A Menu Idea for Oscar Night

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89^th Academy Awards Menu

Boston Clam Chowder – Manchester by the Sea

Tang –Arrival

Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad – La La Land

Albondigas Soup Recipe

Ethnic soups add much variety to the American diet, and this one is a staple in my home. In cold weather, this is an especially warming and satisfying soup. Albondigas in Spanish means meatballs. I think you will find this a great entrée soup when eaten with warm tortillas or garlic bread. This recipe is from my book, Gourmet the Simple Way. Upgrade the processed green chile to a green salsa, if you prefer.

Albondigas Turkey Soup

Monday, Monday

I love Mondays. That’s kind of un-American, isn’t it?  Like saying I don’t much like fireworks–also true.  But back to Mondays.  We’re all supposed to prefer weekends to weekdays because weekends are the times dedicated to fun fun fun. You know–long hillside hikes, and parties, a trip to the art museum, and parties, a day at Disneyland, and parties. But in the midst of this sybaritic whirl, chances are you neglect to wash the dishes or pick up the kids’ toys, so that by Monday all the hampers are overflowing with damp towels and your kitchen looks more like a

Ten Chances to Win a Free Paperback

Goodreads Book Giveaway

In the Mouth of the Lion

by J. Guenther

Giveaway ends February 16, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/widget/218951

Our Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are mostly available on Amazon, except Fifty Fuehrer Factoids, which is coming soon, and Silver Dream, which will be discontinued soon.

Prologue to Harem Twins

Cover of the Book Harem Twins

Egypt’s sun god Ra was rising in the eastern sky to cast his vibrant rays on the white walls of Pharaoh Amenhotep III’s grand new house. A newborn, about to arrive at sunrise in Pharaoh’s Harem, would foretell of exceptional heavenly influences.

The mother, Princess Attah of Mitanni, was twelve summers old. Her diminutive frame carried the belly of a hippopotamus. Gaunt and exhausted from slow labor, her birthing was half a moon cycle early, the baby large.

Maja, Attah’s only slave, tried to comfort her princess with damp cloths and soothing words as Attah suffered strong and rapid thrusts. Maja overheard two women sitting on their cots watching her princess struggle.

“The foreigner slept with Pharaoh but once, and is bearing his child. Luck is with her. She hasn’t even learned to speak in Egyptian yet,” one said.

The other pregnant woman said, “I feel sorry for her. No one has brought effigies of Goddess Hathor to bring the sweet north wind, or God Bes to aid her in her childbearing. The tattoo artist is coming in two Ras to paint my breasts with pictures of God Bes so the magic will be with me when I give birth.”

Slave Maja was on her knees at Attah’s cot asking all the gods she had ever heard of not to let her mistress die in childbirth.

In Defense of Prejudice

And what’s this got to do with writing anyway?

One of my writing colleagues recently published an article about prejudice against beauty. What? Who doesn’t like beauty? We all enjoy seeing beautiful things, places, faces. But what we don’t usually consider is how that pretty face makes us feel. Envious? Intimidated? Intrigued? Superior? Before that gorgeous gal utters a single word, have we judged her based on appearance?

Guest Post: Harry Nicholson, Part II

The story of an unknown man

This is a continuation of excepts from Harry Nicholson’s excellent book, Tom Fleck.  –Jeff Guenther

Read Part I

Introduction: “Tom Fleck is partly a response to the flush of novels about Tudor royalty. I feel small connection with those great lords and their ladies; I sense more kinship with the lives of ordinary folk. So I’ve imagined the lives and adventures of unknown men and women, people without heraldry, people who left no marks of their passing except for the blood that flows in our veins.” –Harry Nicholson

More Fragments of Tom’s world: 

Tom is with his father, about to dig into a burial mound on the Cleveland Hills:

Guest Post: Harry Nicholson, Part I

Today’s guest poster is Harry Nicholson. I met Harry on Goodreads and was very impressed by the quality of his writing. And his poetry. And his artwork. The following post showcases his evocative prose, selections from ‘Tom Fleck,’ a novel. –Jeff Guenther

 The story of an unknown man.

Tom Fleck Amazon Link

Introduction: “When I was tapping out Morse in the pitching wireless cabins of tropical steamers in the 1950’s, story-telling was not in my mind. A career in television studios might have brought it about – thirty years working with stories in pictures soaks the mind with images. These days, in a valley below the moorlands of North Yorkshire, I have more time to imagine at leisure. My first tale is about a humble farm labourer and his struggles to be free in Tudor England.”