Under Romance:

GOD OF SUMMER by Kat Chant – 4 Sparklers for this Irish mythology-based story of gods, goddesses, and mortals.

Under LGBTQ+ for adults:

THE DOCTOR’S WISH by Andrew Grey – 4 Sparklers for this gay romance

Under Mysteries:

SIX FEET DEEP DISH by Mindy Quigley – 4 Sparklers for this pizza restaurant-based mystery (with yummy recipes!)

A TREACHEROUS TALE by Elizabeth Penney – 5+Sparklers for this story within a story mystery

DEVIL’S DELIGHT by M.C. Beaton – 3 Sparklers for this British-based mystery

Birthdays: James Kirke Paulding (1778), Dorothy Parker (1893), Annie Proulx (1935), Ray Bradbury (1920), Will Hobbs (1947), Peter James (1948), Kurt Anderson (1954), Will Shetterly (1955),  Kate Christensen (1962), Diane Setterfield (1964), Charlie Connelly (1970)

Annie Proulx won the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for Fiction. Her short story “Brokeback Mountain” was made into the movie of the same name.

Quote: “What I find to be very bad advice is the snappy little sentence, ‘Write what you know.’ It is the most tiresome and stupid advice that could possibly be given. If we write simply about what we know we never grow. We don’t develop any facility for languages, or an interest in others, or a desire to travel and explore and face experience head-on. We just coil tighter and tighter into our boring little selves. What one should write about is what interests one.” – Annie Proulx

“You fail only if you stop writing.” – Ray Bradbury

Tip: A simile is a figure of speech where two very different things are compared to each other, usually denoted by the word “as.” For instance: She had a heart as big as Texas.

Jumpstart: The storm rattled the windows, slashing at them as if trying to get past the thin glass to the inside. I knew if it did…