Category: MJ Monday

MJ Monday: MJ’s Manuscript-Besieged by the Moon

Phoebe was silent for another couple of blocks. “I heard all the lycanthropes in the area were gone.”

“Most of them,” Parker said. “There was a purge.”

He would never forget the stench of rotting bodies. Never be able to unsee the corpse of a child who’d tried to hide in the same bush Parker puked on. He was an EMT. Those sights and smells shouldn’t have bothered him. But they had. They would have upset anyone with a soul.

“A few survived. Because Ethan mated with Selena, our alpha sent a contingent here to help with . . . the aftermath.”

“Of a massacre?” Her voice cracked.

“I said purge.” He noted the vampires that had guarded the corner of Oak and Ash Streets hadn’t returned, thank the Ancient Ones.

“Purge. Massacre. Slaughter. It’s semantics.” Phoebe stared out the window.

“But I said purged. Ethnic cleansing.” Parker pulled to the curb in front of Ethan’s funky orange house.

“So it’s still going on.” She spoke softly, almost as if to herself.

“It’s still going on.”

MJ Monday: MJ’s Music–Loreena McKennitt

I discovered Loreena McKennitt back in the olden days when I hung out on various writers forums. I fell in love. She has an ethereal voice. Her music is haunting. She composes many of her own pieces, and is heavily influenced by both Celtic and Middle Eastern themes. I have most of her earlier CDs. My favorite is The Book of Secrets, which has her stunning version of “The Highwayman”, a poem by Alfred Noyes.  I frequently use her “Sacred Shabbat,” an instrumental, for meditation.

I own two of her seasonal releases: “A Winter Garden” and “To Drive the Winter Cold Away”.  In a world where raucous Christmas music hits the airwaves November 1, these two CDs are islands of serenity. There are only so many versions of “Jingle Bell Rock” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” a woman can take.

Loreena McKennitt is a good antidote to the madness of the season.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Movies-While You Were Sleeping

While You Were Sleeping is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Sandra Bullock, Bill Pullman, Peter Gallagher, and other recognizable faces star in this rom-com.

Many people do not consider this a Christmas movie. The controversy isn’t as well-known as the Die Hard debate, but it does exist.

“Just because it takes place  between Christmas and New Year doesn’t make it a Christmas movie,” I’ve heard. That would be correct.  It’s the plot that defines the genre, and this plot is fully-loaded.

Lucy, our heroine, is alone. She gets stuck working all the holidays because she has no family. Her stated goal is she wants to see the world, but her longing is for family.  She has a crush on a commuter she each day while she works in a toll booth. When she witnesses him being mugged on Christmas Day, her life changes. Through a series of funny misunderstandings, Lucy ends up enmeshed in the lives of the commuter’s family while he’s in a coma, and falls in love.

The ending is a Christmas miracle, because Lucy gets everything she wants.

MJ Monday: MJ’s Meals-Chili

If you are a chili aficionado, you’re going to hate this recipe.

If you are a person who thinks everything should be created from scratch, you’re going to hate this recipe.

If you’re a busy person who sometimes needs a quick and easy meal, this recipe might suit your needs.

I got the “original” of this recipe when I was the executive producer of a cooking/monster movie TV show. It came from a local new anchor, who is a legend in the city where I live. Being me (and having a husband who has definite likes and dislikes), I’ve tweaked it a bit to suit our tastes.

  • Brown 1 lb of ground meat (the original recipe called for ground turkey; we prefer ground beef). Drain.
  • Add 1 can of Bush’s Best Chili Magic
  • Add 1 can of diced tomatoes (the original recipe said stewed tomatoes, but we prefer diced. I used to buy ones with chilies in them, but they are no longer available, so I used store brand “chili style”.)
  • Season with garlic powder to taste.
  • Season with Tabasco sauce to taste. (For years, I used roasted garlic Tabasco, but that seems to have gone the way of diced tomatoes with chilies.)
  • Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.

Serve with shredded cheese or sour cream.

That’s it. Enjoy!

 

MJ’s Manuscript: Excerpt: BESIEGED BY THE MOON

“Just so you know, I’m allergic to strawberries.”
She must have been reading his mind, because he’d been frantically trying to think of a way to make the traditional mating offering of berries.
“I’ve never heard of a werewolf with food allergies.” He was an EMT. The only thing lycans were allergic to was alcohol, and even then the reaction wasn’t an allergy in the sapien sense. The homo lupus couldn’t consume a lot of things sapiens considered normal. Chocolate. Grapes in any form. Artificial sweeteners were deadly. You’d never find a millennial werewolf because avocado toast was poison. But none of these were allergies.
He had a mate. He needed to focus on what was important instead of being distracted by the trivial.
He needed to take Phoebe to Ethan’s house, where he’d better be able to treat her wound and access Selena’s stock herbal remedies. There was even a bed where he could do the deed.
He couldn’t think of a single reason not to mark Phoebe right away. Berries. Right. Not strawberries.
He jammed the key into the ignition and twisted. “Anything else I should know?”

BESIEGED BY THE MOON

Tentatively scheduled for February 2020