New Book by Krista D. Ball!!

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Krista's books. I own all but a few and have enjoyed them. She has something very different coming out next week, not at all like her fantasies and sci fi's. No, "First (Wrong) Impressions" is is a modern update on Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice", and it's available on Sunday, June 2nd. Even better, it will be FREE Sunday through Thursday June 6th so if you aren't sure you'll like this genre switch or you have never read Krista before, you can get it and all it will cost you is your time. It's only available on Amazon on kindle format, but if you need it in another format, you can email Krista and she'll send it to you; kristadball@gmail.com

Special Deal on What Kings Ate & Wizards Drank by Krista D. Ball

I don't post many deals or sales but this was a book I loved and the author is a favorite of mine. "What Kings Ate & Wizards Drank" is a conversational look at common myths and mistakes in historical and fantasy books concerning food and eating. Ball educates without preaching and, as in most of her writing, infuses it with humor. You don't need to be a writer or a foodie to enjoy this book.

For 3 days only, it's on sale at Amazon for 99 cents. Don't have a Kindle? Not a problem. Purchase the Kindle edition, email the receipt to Krista ( be sure to block out any personal details that you'd rather not share) and she'll send you the book in a different format. Krista's email is kristadball@gmail.com.

 

Review of Dark Whispers by Krista D Ball

Publisher: Krista D Ball
Series: Spirit Caller #2
Format Read: ebook
Release Date: February 25, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon    Barnes & Noble

Book Blurb (from goodreads):

A rash of teen suicides shakes the remote Newfoundland village that Rachel Mills calls home. As Rachel helps the school investigate, painful memories from her past – events she’s worked very hard to forget – resurface and won’t go back into the grave where they belong.

As if she didn’t have enough problems with her personal life! Her beloved 93-year-old neighbor falls ill. The man Rachel’s in love with moves into her house–along with his girlfriend, the most perfect woman in creation. And a strung-out wreck of a woman claiming to be Rachel’s biological mother shows up on her doorstep.

But it isn’t until a local boy with a talent for spellwork is attacked by a mysterious stranger that Rachel asks the question she’s avoided her whole life: how powerful can a Spirit Caller like herself become?

Bea's Thoughts:

Look at that cover! The colors are gorgeous and the overall atmosphere is spooky and the image is a good representation of what happens in the book. I wish this were available in print so I could just look at the cover; as is, I have to turn on my laptop and open my book covers folder, open the book in Adobe Editions or open up goodreads or Krista's site. And I'm just not that obsessed. :D Yeah I have it in Kindle also but I have the e-reader and not the Fire so no color, just boring black and white.

Okay, enough rambling about the cover. I read the first book when it came out in January 2012 but didn't get a chance to re-read it before "Dark Whispers" came out. Happily that wasn't a problem. I recalled enough to understand references and Ball also worked in little bits of info here and there so that even if you haven't read the first book, you shouldn't have a problem. 

This book is a little longer, about 100 pages and it packs a lot in. It starts out humorously and becomes darker though still with some humorous bits. I was laughing and laughing the first 10 or so pages, and Ball's summary of the typical paranormal romance cracked me up:

It was a dark and stormy night. A good paranormal romance could never have a better opening. You know how it goes. Girl meets boy. Boy is a vampire. Girl gives in to carnal temptation. Tab A inserts into Slot B. Someone shoves an assault rifle up a demon's ass. Everyone lives happy ever after.

When the book starts, Rachel could use some romance in her life. She is in love with a local Mountie, Jeremy, but instead they are just friends. He has a steady girlfriend and both of them are staying at Rachel's house while repair work is done at Jeremy's apartment after it was flooded. Yep, Rachel's a glutton for punishment. It doesn't help that Donna is practically perfect in every way. Add in Rachel's distress over the recent teen suicides and her neighbor's failing health, and she's an emotional mess.  So naturally, that's when Rachel's biological mother shows up on her door step.

The book zooms along from there, with Rachel dealing with both her biological mother and adoptive mother, more teen suicides and attempted suicides, a neighbor who is convinced she's in league with Satan due to to her ability to communicate with spirits and call them to her, more teen suicides, unhappy memories of her teen years, an assassin, her new and unwanted, quite bossy, spirit sidekick, her love life and her neighbor who is also her best friend. That sounds like a lot for a hundred pages but it never felt rushed or crammed, and several times I was in tears. It's a heck of an emotional ride and along the way Rachel comes to several realizations about herself. One thing about the neighbor who believes Rachel is evil - at one point, he comes over to talk to Rachel about his son and it's a wonderful scene. It's poignant, well-written, had me in tears and shows off Ball's writing skills. She could have taken the easy way out and portrayed David as one dimensional or Rachel as the know-it-all but saintly victim. Instead, we get nuances and depth.

There are unanswered questions and we still have so much to learn about Rachel's background and her abilities, as does Rachel herself. Despite Rachel's abilities and the VERY small town setting, Rachel feels in many ways like someone the reader would know. She's imperfect, she has flaws but they're ordinary, everyday flaws: her eating habits need improvement, she's shy, hates to ask for help, etc. Although she discovers new aspects to her powers in this book, she isn't some ninja, ass-kicking, every-man-has-to-have her urban fantasy heroine that many UF books have. I like that. She holds down a job, has bills to pay, is loyal, has family problems but loves her family, she's sarcastic, kind, and in many respects is just a normal woman. Who can see and talk to ghosts. 

There's enough detail so that you can visual people and places but you aren't drowning in detail, the story is the thing. The characters are rich and real and the plotting is tight. I liked book one but I love this one. There are several more books planned and I am very much looking forward to them, and seeing what happens next.

If the review intrigues you , both this book and the first book are on sale for 99 cents, but the sale ends today. The regular price is $2.99.

The author gifted me an ePub copy and I own a Kindle copy. 

Review of What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank by Krista D. Ball

Publisher: Tyche Books
Format Read: epub and PDF
Release Date: November 1, 2012
Buying Links:  Amazon   Tyche Press   Barnes & Noble

Book Blurb (from goodreads):

A Fantasy Lover's Food Guide

Equal parts writer’s guide, comedy, and historical cookbook, fantasy author Krista D. Ball takes readers on a journey into the depths of epic fantasy’s obsession with rabbit stew and teaches them how to catch the blasted creatures, how to move armies across enemy territories without anyone starving to death, and what a medieval pantry should look like when your heroine is seducing the hero.

Learn how long to cook a salted cow tongue, how best to serve salt fish, what a “brewis” is (hint: it isn’t beer), how an airship captain would make breakfast, how to preserve just about anything, and why those dairy maids all have ample hips.

What Kings Ate will give writers of historical and fantastical genres the tools to create new conflicts in their stories, as well as add authenticity to their worlds, all the while giving food history lovers a taste of the past with original recipes and historical notes.
 
Quote:

If time is of the essence, your hero will not have time to field dress a dear, locate water (unless he's following an uncontaminated stream or river), fish, or club a baby seal and make a fur coat. Yet, how many of us have read fantasy books where the heroes have done all this and still had enough time to seduce the assassin traveling with them?

My eighty-three-year old father has been hunting most of his life and he offers this advice to the hero wanting to hunt rabbits while being chased by orcs: go hungry.

Reviewed By: Bea

Bea's Thoughts:

Ball has a wicked sense of humor and it shines through in this book. This is not a formal textbook or treatise but a conversational look at common myths and mistakes in historical and fantasy books concerning food and eating. She points out common errors but doesn’t cite books or authors, letting them stay anonymous. She limits her scope to Northern Europe in the early Middle Ages, and freely admits that her bachelor’s degree in history doesn’t make her an expert. She did a lot of research for the book and it shows. I enjoyed it tremendously and will be looking with a closer eye now when I’m reading historical books or fantasies.

 

In societies where wood stoves were used, apples could be sliced and hung on strings over the stove, the warmest and dries part of the house. Mushrooms, likewise, can be threaded with a needle and twine, and hung over the hearth or stove. (You won’t want to do this in a Steampunk story or  any urban-based story with coal. Coal stoves eventually coat everything in black soot that tastes really foul. Follow the advice of Mrs. Beeton (a Victorian cookery guru) and put the drying goodies in the wooden cupboards near the stove, where spices and salt were stored. Still warm, but less soot.) These small details can be twisted and massaged into making a lovely setting.

My one gripe about the book and the reason it’s four stars instead of five is the copy editing. There are numerous errors, all of them sloppy. It hasn’t been a problem with her other books so I assume the publisher is responsible for not catching and fixing them.

 

…the hot desert sun was prefect for laying fish out on the roofs of houses to dry.

Smoking and salting is the most common methods…

If potatoes were not in the diet, than bread and beer would…

I quickly became aware that it was so more complex than dealing with…

Never in my life have I felt more in line with the Romans, the original Borg from Star Trek,…

Apart from the numerous proofreading and copy editing errors, I found the book to be fun, enjoyable, useful and easy to use. I recommend it for anyone who writes historical books or fantasies or to readers who are curious. Just be sure to have your red pen ready.

 

I received the Epub and PDF from the author. I’ve also ordered the print copy.

This review first appeared at BookTrib. 

What happens when you lose a bet

No, not me. I don't bet unless you count the occasional raffle ticket. No, this was author Krista D Ball. She's a regular on the blog, between guest posts and my reviews of her books. Earlier this year Krista was tipsy, or even flat-out drunk and fellow author Debora Geary took advantage of her tipsy state and made a bet with Krista about her most recent book, "What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank". Krista must have been very tipsy, as she bet against herself. If the book sold X number of copies in the first month, Krista would make a video of herself singing "You Are My Sunshine" and post it on YouTube. The book sold and earlier today Krista posted the video. So, if you want a laugh, check it out.

Cods Have Tongues?!? and Other WTFery From Krista D Ball

Please welcome author Krista D Ball to the Nook today. I've known Krista for several years; she was one of the first authors I worked with when I started blogging and reviewing. We chat on twitter occasionally and I've read most of her published works. While she usually writes speculative fiction, she recently put her history degree, and her intense dislike of historical inaccuracies, to work in her new, non-fiction, book "What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank: A Fantasy Lover's Guide to Food".

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In 2011, I was asked to write an unique kind of writer's guide: one that helps writers, appeals to readers, and is historically-based. It was a tall order, as how can a writer's guide appeal to people who never have any interest in writing? What came from those initial thoughts was my current non-fiction book, "What Kings Ate and Wizards Drank: A Fantasy Lover's Guide to Food."

"What Kings Ate" is written for writers, but chats away at readers who love historical romance, historical fiction, steampunk, and epic fantasy. In the pages, we learn how our favourite heroines would feed herself while on the run, and what food gifts a hero could give his poor lady friend. 

Of course, no historical book about food would be complete without recipes, and I included over thirty recipes for people to enjoy from different periods of history. Some are pretty standard: the original pound cake. Whereas, others are, well, more like the below.

Fried Cod Tongues

There is a typical reaction to this dish, so let’s get it out of the way: Ewwwwwwwwwwww. This is followed by: cods have tongues? (I second both of these reactions ~ Bea)

Now that is out of the way, let’s discuss this interesting dish. To answer the common question, yes, cod fish do in fact have tongues. They resemble skinned and deboned chicken thighs in size and colour, though they are thinner (about the size of three coins stacked). (Why is it that every unusual or exotic food resembles chicken? ~ Bea)

Fried cod tongues is a common Newfoundland dish, cooked both at home and in restaurants. You can sometimes even find them served up at the local “chip truck”, a battered old delivery van converted into a mobile restaurant where burgers, French fries, and other fatty goodness is served.

Cod tongues are (obviously) the tongue of a cod fish, pan fried. You can also do the same with cod cheeks (yes, cods have cheeks). I prefer tongues as I find cheeks are a little too rubbery for my tastes. Cod tongues are chewy, but have a delicate flavour.

For obvious reasons, this is a dish that only those living in coastal regions are going to have regular access to in a pre-refrigeration society. In fact, even in the modern world, this isn’t a common dish beyond the cod fish waters of the North Atlantic. I’ve rarely seen cod tongues elsewhere, including at specialty seafood shops, since leaving Newfoundland. However, if you can get a few shipped in, cook up a “feed” (lots of food) and enjoy a new food.

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ tsp pepper

½ pound salt pork

Cod tongues

Wash enough fresh cod tongues for your meal (the usual serving is eight tongues per person). Dry them on a cloth or paper towel.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, and pepper and mix together. Set aside.

Cut up salt pork and fry it up until golden brown. Remove the pork cubes for another use (or you can even use them as a topping if you need an extra-hardy meal).

Coat the tongues in the flour mixture one by one. Fry them in the hot pork fat until golden brown on both sides. Place them on a warm plate with a cloth or paper towel to soak up any excess fat.  Serve immediately, or place in a warm oven (or, a cooling bread oven) if needed.

A well-organized cook would ensure that the pan drippings from a previous meal needing salt pork (not the actual fat pieces) would be saved so that it would be available as a frying fat later in the week. 

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Publisher: Tyche Books
Release date: November 1, 2012
Format: ebook (out now), print (soon)

Buying Links: Amazon   Smashwords   Tyche Books   Kobo

Book Blurb (from author):

Equal parts writer’s guide, comedy, and historical cookbook, fantasy author Krista D. Ball takes readers on a journey into the depths of epic fantasy’s obsession with rabbit stew and teaches them how to catch the blasted creatures, how to move armies across enemy territories without anyone starving to death, and what a medieval pantry should look like when your heroine is seducing the hero.

Learn how long to cook a salted cow tongue, how best to serve salt fish, what a “brewis” is (hint: it isn’t beer), how an airship captain would make breakfast, how to preserve just about anything, and why those dairy maids all have ample hips.

What Kings Ate will give writers of historical and fantastical genres the tools to create new conflicts in their stories, as well as add authenticity to their worlds, all the while giving food history lovers a taste of the past with original recipes and historical notes.

Canadian author Krista D. Ball combines her love of the fantastical, an obsession with pottage, and a history degree from Mount Allison University to bring fantasy writers and food lovers a new and unique reference guide.

I'm Dreaming of...

author Krista D Ball. Yep, you read that right. She is, it seems, my dream girl and I'm not even gay (nor is she). The other night I had a dream where I visited her house. I helped her dress for a date with her husband (the real Krista is in a relationship but not married) and then they left. As if that wasn't odd enough, The Monkees showed up at Krista's house. Well, the 60's version of them, since they looked like their younger selves and Davy Jones was still alive. The dream just got weirder from there. :D

Actually, the Monkees were the only ones who in any way resembled reality since neither the dream Krista nor I looked anything like our real selves and her house bore no resemblance to her real house.

I remember that when I woke up I was disappointed to be awake, I wanted my dream world back. I had spent the previous couple days chatting with Krista via email and twitter. We often chat, so I'm not sure why she invaded my dreams that particular night, and I don't recall that we've ever talked about the Monkees. But it all made for a very pleasant dream.

No offense Krista, but in the future I'd rather dream about David Gandy, Brad Pitt or Cary Grant. :P Or all three at the same time. ;)

Review of Spirits Rising by Krista D Ball

 

Publisher: Krista D Ball

Release Date: January 3, 2012

Series: Spirit Caller

Buying Links: Amazon     Barnes & Noble     Smashwords

Book Blurb (from authors website):

Rachel Mills has one wish in life: for the spirit world to shut up and leave her alone. She thought her move to a remote fishing village in Northern Newfoundland would help.

 

Population: Twenty. What could go wrong?

Instead of peace, however, she relocates to a land of superstition, the air alive with the presence of others.

When a local teenager accidentally summons the spirits of the area, including those from a thousand-year-old Viking settlement, all supernatural breaks loose. As the spirits stalk her and each other, Rachel finds herself in over her head. With the help of Mrs. Saunders, her 93-year-old neighbour, Rachel has to put aside her own prejudices long enough to send the spirits back to rest, or risk being caught in the midst of a spirit war.

Reviewed By: Bea

My Thoughts:

Rachel has the ability to sense ghosts and spirits. Sometimes they bother her, sometimes they don't, but she's always aware of them. She makes no secret of her ability but doesn't advertise it either. In the village she moved to recently, she's made a few friends, but also at least one enemy: someone has been posting fliers on her front door, denouncing her as a witch and a devil worshipper.

Rachel is the protagonist of this story but not the hero. She doesn't have special powers, but she does have knowledge and it's that knowledge that helps save the day. Getting rid of the spirits who are rampaging in the village, thanks to a foolish teenager, takes almost the entire village. Rachel is surprised, and grateful, at how much support she receives. At times while reading the story, I felt like I had missed a book and started the series in the middle. I would have liked more back story, more world building. I never got Rachel's attraction to Jeremy or why she wanted to kick him out of her life. The way she acted, it seemed as if he had done something to her, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 

The characters were well written and Mrs Saunders was a hoot, I hope we see more of her. The story has  a Newfoundland feel to it or so I assume since I've never been. But it didn't feel like it could have been set anywhere and the details added to the story. Rachel is not perfect, she has flaws and her first attempt to get rid of the spirits is unsuccessful. I like that she's not a kick ass or powerful heroine, but more normal and realistic. She has a strong moral code and a willingness to work hard, though asking for and accepting help can be difficult for her. She's just a nice, normal girl. It's a good start to the series and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I received a Kindle book from the author for review.

Guest Post by Author Krista D Ball: Can Books Transform Your Mind?

Krista has visited the blog before and she was one of the first people I thought of when planning this week. Today, she's talking about effects that reading a book can have, especially when it's a book that someone doesn't want you to read.

Krista writes speculative fiction ranging from historical fantasy to science fiction, lives in Canada where she's slave to a pride of house cats, dreads selling shoes, and and has a history degree that she's finally putting to use with a forthcoming non-fiction reference book for authors.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

When I was a teenager, I read everything and anything I could get my hands on. My parents weren't readers and didn't know most of what I was reading. I'm grateful for that, as they would have been the types to ban books if they'd known what I was reading. In fact, I often think I wouldn't have become a writer if it wasn't for the incredible range of books I'd had exposure to as a kid.

I just did a look at the banned list. Many of the books I have fond memories about are in fact challenged or banned books in many American schools. I don't know if those bans and challenges came up here to Canada, too, but it still saddens me knowing that kids are missing out on some of my favourite memories from books.

In my Grade 11 literature class, we had a number of boys who hated reading, who hated literature, and who had no interest in learning. Then, we got to "Lord of the Flies". I will remember this one boy who stuttered and struggled to read aloud anytime he was called volunteering to read lines from the novel. Other boys volunteered to read different characters. A book that some people deemed "offensive" transformed a class of underachieving and disinterested minds into a class of learning and discussion.

We also read "Animal Farm" that year. For some reason, it appealed more to the girls of the class. I remember one particular girl (who'd failed English lit the previous year) crying in class over the horse. Crying over a book. What more could you ask for in a person who hated reading?

One of the boys smuggled in a copy of "Satanic Verses" because we wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I don't think I got to read more than a page because everyone wanted a piece of it.

I have seen books transform and brighten minds more than any other one single event, activity, or item. Every time I hear about a banned or challenged book, I think about those people in my class and wonder how, without those books, they might have gone their entire lives thinking there wasn't even one book that they liked. 

Guest Review - Krista D Ball reviews Aspect Ratio by Frances Pauli

 Publisher: Mundania Press

Release Date: May 2011

Series: #2 of Shift Happens

More Info: Amazon     Smashwords

Book Blurb (from Goodreads):

Chloe Watson is just starting to get used to her inter-dimensionaly career, her covert relationship with the boss and her life as a cross dimensional traveler. Then a last minute promotion, a galaxy wide tournament and an unexpected stow-away manage to throw a wrench in her status quo. 

Now she's left to sort out a string of parallel abductions, deal with an infestation of Lemurian bedbugs and get her local pet store associate back home before the woman blows the whistle on everything Chloe had going for her. 

 Just for fun, her relationship starts looking more than a little rocky, her job is on the line and her boyfriend/boss is keeping secrets that could cost them both a lot more than just their salaries.

Author Krista D Ball offered a while back to do a guest review. It took some time to coordinate our schedules but here's her post, what I hope will be the first of many. 

A little information about Krista - she was born and raised in Deer Lake, Newfoundland, where she learned how to use a chainsaw, chop wood,and make raspberry jam. After obtaining a B.A. in British History from Mount Allison University, Krista moved to Edmonton, AB where she currently lives. Somehow, she’s picked up an engineer, two kids, seven cats, and a very understanding corgi off eBay. Her credit card has been since taken away. Like any good writer, Krista has had an eclectic array of jobs throughout her  life, including strawberry picker, pub bathroom cleaner, oil spill cleaner upper and soup kitchen coordinator. These days, when Krista isn’t software testing, she writes in her messy office.


Krista's Thoughts:

This is the second book of Pauli's hilarious chick lit- science fiction hybrid series. This book can be read out of order from the first one (The Dimensional Shift), though I do recommend picking up the first one for the background on our heroine, Chloe.

In ASPECT RATIO we find our heroine temporarily promoted to the ranks of security of an inter-dimensional hotel. It's a long ways from cleaning hotel rooms, that's for sure. However, promotion means more responsibility, including bad guys and bed bugs the side of dogs.

I laughed a lot in ASPECT RATIO. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the first book of the series, only because I felt it was a little rushed. I felt like there wasn't a breather from page one to the end. I was out of breath when I finished it! I also was thrown by having the point-of-view of a new character that didn't exist in the first book added to the mix.

The crazy neighbour and invisible roommate returned, however, and that helped balance any small issues I had with pacing. Overall, this is another highly recommended book on my list.

4/5

Krista owns this ebook.

A Mini Interview With Speculative Fiction Author Krista D Ball

Today we have author Krista D Ball dropping by for a visit. Krista D. Ball is a speculative fiction writer living in Edmonton, Canada. When no one is looking, she dabbles in freelance writing. She's also a slave to a herd of cats and in her free time enjoys RPG'ing.

Krista has several short stories available from MuseItUp Publishing and a forthcoming novel. She writes historical fantasy, science fiction, urban fantasy, pretty much any genre that allows her to speculate and play with reality. She also wrote non-fiction guide to blogging for authors, "No More Blank Screen: Blogging Ideas for Fiction Authors".  Her works are available on Smashwords and Amazon. She has two forthcoming novels, a sci fi military, "Road to Hell", due to be published Nov. 2011 by MuseItUp Publishing, and a high fantasy novel, "Tranquility's Blaze", expected publication is the first quarter of 2012 by Mundania Press.

You can find Krista all around the web. She has a blog and website, and she can be found on Twitter and facebook. Stop by and chat her up, she's friendly and just a bit crazy. :D I reviewed a short story of hers, "Harvest Moon" last fall but didn't begin chatting with her until this past winter when a mutual acquaintance RT'ed a tweet by Krista that she was looking for bloggers for a summer blog tour. Since I had enjoyed "Harvest Moon" so much I clicked on the link, signed up, and started following her on Twitter. We chat several times a week and I am looking forward to her novels, even "Road to Hell" though I'm not a fan of military fiction and I'm picky about my science fiction. :P

As part of her summer blog tour, I asked Krista a few questions about her short story "Flying Kite, Crashing Ship" and she was kind enough to take the time to reply. (The questions and answers will make more sense if you read my review first.)

Bea: What prompted this story? Was there a specific event that inspired you? Do you think that you will write more in this world?
 

Krista: Flying Kite Crashing Ship was me wanting to write a Regency story that was not based on romance. It's a favourite historical period of mine, yet it's so difficult to find stories about this area that aren't romance or erotica. So, I decided to have a lot of fun and have folks from the far future drop in on the Regency period and see what would happen.

Bea: I hadn't heard the term "flying kite" before your story "Flying Kite; Crashing Ship"; from your use of it, it seems to be not a kite but more of a hot air balloon. Is that right? Have you ever gone up in a hot air balloon?
 

Krista: I don't remember where I read the term. I know it was in an historical document, but for the life of me I've forgotten where I saw it. In any case, the term stuck in my mind. I imagined a flying kite as something like a hybrid weather balloon, though I think it might have referred to just a basic kite (in the original document). But, I don't let small things like that stop me :)

I've never been in a hot air balloon and I doubt I ever will. At least, not while sober. Or, conscious. I'm afraid of heights and it seems to get worse the older I get. I think a hot air balloon would do me in.

Bea: What was with the blue goo? :D I kept picturing it as a sort of futuristic air bag.

Krista: It was totally an air bag! Well, a goo bag.

Bea: What's your take on time paradoxes? Can they be avoided? Are they inevitable? Is at all a bunch of hooey? :D Why is it such a popular theme?  

Krista: I think one should not think too much about time paradoxes or else they will drive you insane.

Time travel is something we all do every time we pick up a photo album or read an old book. We see the past and wonder what it would have been like. It makes sense that it would seep into fiction.

Review: Harvest Moon by Krista D Ball

Book Blurb: 

Cursed, abused, and desperate to know her future, Dancing Cat sneaks a glimpse inside her tribe’s Sacred Bundle, a powerful source of spirit magic. Instead of the future, she sees her most powerful ancestor, Small Tree and incurs her wrath. Small Tree strips Dancing Cat of everything —her home, her identity, even her gender – and drops her in the middle of enemy lands.

Injured, and in a strange, new body, she is befriended by Bearclaw who is on a spirit quest. He offers her assistance and asks for nothing in return; a kindness Dancing Cat had forgotten existed. She struggles to weave a path around the obstacles of friendship, identity, and longing in order to survive her eventual return home to face even further punishment. 

 And she does it while wearing someone else's skin.

My Thoughts: 

I was pulled into this story right from the beginning. I really enjoyed it and hope that Ball writes more stories with these characters.

It's told in first person narrative and moves right along. The setting appears to be an American Indian, sometime after the appearance of the Europeans. The setting is part of the story, almost another character.

Dancing Cat, through circumstances not of her doing, is living on the edges of  her tribe, barely tolerated even by her own family. She has been given a new name, "Cursed One", and is allowed barely enough food to survive. She is frustrated, lonely, starving for both food and human kindness, and considering a desperate course of action. Uncertain what she should do, she "borrows" her tribe's sacred bundle, seeking answers. 

What she gets is something she could never have imagined. There's a small hint for the readers, but I only caught on a re-read. The story takes twists and turns, but also takes it's time before arriving at at a sweet ending. I actually found myself tearing up. Writing short-form is hard to do well, and Ball has nailed it. The balance of detail and character development is just right. She reveals details slowly, she doesn't rush, and there's no info dump, yet the story isn't padded; it's as long as it needs to be. 

Harvest Moon is a delightful blend of history, romance, and fantasy. I didn't put it down until it was done, and I really want to see more of Dancing Cat and Bearclaw. 

Publisher: MuseItUp Publishing

Format: ebook

The PDF was received from the author for review.