The Finale -- A Date to Die For

The last part of "A Date to Die For" is here -- for those who are interested. Lilly manages, along with Jake's help to nab the killer who murdered Lilly's date. What a surprise she gets, and it's enough to send her over the edge! Drop on over to New Fiction Writers and spend some time to find out the unexpected twist of an ending:

A Date to Die For - Part III

And for those who need the links to Part I and Part II:

Story Part I

Story Part II

Thanks to all for your support!

Have a story that is ghoulish? Ready for the Halloween mindset? If you want to enter New Fiction Writers Halloween Story Contest, check out the details. Tell Tony I sent you :-)

Name That Novel #18

Let's try this one.... slightly more contemporary, but still a classic and well-read.

"Winston had disliked her from the very first moment of seeing her. He knew the reason. It was because of the atmosphere of hockey-fields and cold baths and community hikes and general clean-mindedness which she managed to carry about her. He disliked nearly all woman, and especially the young and pretty ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy."

Good luck!

Congrats to Tina! 1984 by George Orwell.

Name That Poet #7

Let's try for this one, a poem by another great contemporary American author. So, name and title, if you can guess.



They were women then
My mama's generation
Husky of voice--stout of
Step
With fists as well as
Hands
How they battered down
Doors
And ironed
Starched white
Shirts
How they led
Armies
Headragged generals
Across mined
Fields
Booby-trapped
Ditches
To discover books
Desks
A place for us
How they knew what we
Must know
Without knowing a page
Of it
Themselves.


Good luck to all! The time has passed..... And the answer is: Alice Walker

Name That Novel ... #16

Haven't done this in a long while, but since I just finished reading a great novel, I thought I'd share. See if you can guess this very contemporary, fairly new (2003) creation of suspense, and it's author who is well-known for a couple other well-written works.

"Since that trip as a boy, Teddy had never enjoyed being out on the water, took no pleasure from such a lack of land, of visions of land, things you could reach out and touch without your hands dissolving into them. You told yourself it was okay--because that's what you had to do to cross a body of water--but it wasn't. Even in the war, it wasn't the storming of the beaches he feared so much as those last few yards from the boats to the shore, legs slogging through the depths, strange creatures slithering over your boots."

And another passage, just in case you might need a bit more prompting:

"...He felt a sudden pity for all those people on the other side of the wall who recognized that thin wire for what it was, realized just how badly the world wanted to keep them in..."

Okay, good luck to all!

No takers, I guess...so.... Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

Name That Novel #13

Contemporary, bestseller, an American saga and a very poignant take on human nature -- our flaws, our strengths, all of it set in the vast wilderness of Wisconsin. That said (a generous serving of clues, I must say) see if you can guess the title and author:

**I am giving some other hints, which I hope will bring in a winner. This story is about a mute boy who communicates well with dogs, and he goes on a long journey into the wilderness. The book came out in 2008, I believe.

"This will be his earliest memory.

Red light, morning light. High ceiling canted overhead. Lazy click of toenails on wood. Between the honey-colored slats of the crib a whiskery muzzle slides forward until its cheeks pull back and a row dainty front teeth bare themselves in a ridiculous grin.

The nose quivers. The velvet snout dimples.

All the house is quiet. Be still. Stay still.

Fine, dark muzzle fur. Black nose, leather of lacework creases, comma of nostrils flexing with each breath. A breeze shushes up the field and pillows the curtains inward. The apple tree near the kitchen window caresses the house with a tick-tickety-tick-tick. As slowly as he can, he exhales, feigning sleep, but despite himself his breath hitches. At once, the muzzle knows he is awake. It snorts. Angles right and left. Withdraws...."

There you are. Now, let's see what you can do with it. :-)

Okay, I don't think anyone is going to guess this one. So, drum roll please! .........

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski

Name That Poet #3

Here is a short contemporary poem. See if you recognize it. Then give us the poet and title if you can. And please check out the link below. Cara Power does a wonderful blog segment on poetry. This week's feature? Why "The Raven" narrated by Vincent Price, of course!

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Congrats to Tina for guessing Carl Sandburg. And the title is "Fog"

Name That Novel #10

From the past to the present, some stories are worth repeating. That is my hint for the following excerpt. Title and author, please.

I will give another hint... it is based on a very well-known children's novel and movie.

"Look, you can see the snow, white as the grace of the Unnamed God," said the novice, remembering her pastoral requirements. "Think on that, and rest, and sleep. Here's a pillow. Here's a stool for your feet. Upstairs we'll be singing and praising the Unnamed God. I'll pray for you."
"Don't--" said the green ghostly guest, then slumped her head against the pillow.
"It's my pleasure to," said the novice, a bit aggressively, and fled, just in time to catch the processional hymn.
For a while the winter salon was still. It was like a fishbowl into which a new acquisition has been dropped. The snow moved as if done by a machine, gently and mesmerizingly, with a soft churr. The blossoms of the marginium plants closed a bit in the strengthening cold of the room. Oil lamps issued their funereal crepe ribbons into the air. On the other side of the garden--hardly visible through the snow and the two windows--a decrepit maunt, with a more precise grasp of the calendar than her sisters, began to hum a saucy old pagan hymn to Lurline.

Once again, good luck to all. And don't forget....the winner can choose to place a novel winner button on his/her blogsite! (See right sidebar for link to button post)

Congrats to Vanessa! You answered correctly with Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Don't forget to grab a winner button to place on your site if you like :-)

Name That Novel #9

Let's try this one on for size....it's current, it's hot, it's popular in more ways than one. (That's as much of a hint as I can give.) Title and author, please

"The library is cool and smells like carpet cleaner, although all I can see is marble. I sign the Visitors' Log: Clare Abshire, 11:15 10-26-91 Special Collections. I have never been in the Newberry Library before, and now that I've gotten past the dark, foreboding entrance I am excited....
I am speechless. Here is Henry, calm, clothed, younger than I have ever seen him. Henry is working at the Newberry Library, standing in front of me, in the present. Here and now. I am jubilant. Henry is looking at me patiently, uncertain but polite."

I think I'd have to say the clues are in the content of the quote. Not the style.

Okay, have at it and good luck :-)

We have a winner :-) Liz called it --- Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Flash Forward to the Present and Name That Novel #7

Okay, so this one is contemporary. In fact it's on the bestseller list. And it's a mystery. So... title and author, please:


Sherlock fell to her knees beside him. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay."

"What's this?"

Savich knelt beside the girl, turned her over, and jerked off the ski mask. He looked at her young face, deathly white, mouth bloodied from biting against the pain, dark hair matted to her head. "This is one of them, Sherlock. She's only a kid." The girl moaned, her eyelashes fluttering. When her eyes opened, he stared down into her pain-glazed dark eyes. He leaned close. "What's your name?"

She spit at him.

"What's your name?" he repeated.

The kid snarled, "I'm going to kill you, shoot you in the head, watch it explode."

"Charming," Sherlock said.

"I kicked her pretty hard in the stomach. She needs an ambulance."

She was whimpering now, tears clogging in her throat, choking her, and she was saying over and over, "Mama, Mama. I want my mama."


There you have it. And good luck :-)

Congratulations to Michael (Innocent Owner of Mad Cats) for getting it right! Catherine Coulter and Knock Out. The clue would be in the character names -- Savich and Sherlock.

Name That Novel #3

Name the novel and the author.

"'Our Lady is not some magical being out there somewhere, like a fairy godmother. She's not the statue in the parlor. She's something inside of you. Do you understand what I'm telling you?' 'Our Lady is inside me,' I repeated, not sure I did."

Okay, I'm going to add another passage that might be more telling, give it a few days, and if there are no takers, I'll give up the answer :-) So, here goes...

"At night I would lie in bed and watch the show, how bees squeezed through the cracks of my bedroom wall and flew circles around the room, making that propeller sound, a high pitched zzzzzz that hummed along my skin....The way those bees flew, not even looking for a flower, just flying for the feel of the wind, split my heart down its seam."

I guess I will have to reveal the answer: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd -- which of course was made into a movie, currently out on dvd.

Name that Novel #2

Sorry, I am a day late with this, but here goes. Name the novel and the author:

"When I pursued this resolution about ten days longer, as I have said, I began to see that the land was inhabited; and in two or three places, as we sailed by, we saw people stand upon the shore to look at us; we could also perceive they were quite black and naked."

Good luck.

Congratulations to Liz who guessed correctly: Robinson Crusoe by Defoe.

Name that Novel #1

I'm going to try something new and what I hope will be fun. Each week, I will post a quote from some classic or contemporary work and then hopefully you will guess where it belongs -- title and author. And good luck! So here's the first week's quote, and I'll start with one that's rather easy, I think:

"Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her and to wonder what was going to happen next."

Congrats to Ares for coming up with Alice in Wonderland. But I also asked for the author....anyone care to respond? And thank you, Ares. As well as to Laughing Idiot who was right on Ares' coat tails with the title answer :-)

Congratulations once again... Ares answered Lewis Carroll. :-) Come back and visit next week for another quote to name that novel!