tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88611862821814613442024-02-19T09:16:44.336-08:00J.R. SparlinThe Frog BlogJ.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comBlogger72125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-69767723381856317222023-09-04T00:28:00.000-07:002023-09-04T00:28:19.255-07:00Jaleth and the Dragons, Now in Paperback <p>In 2017, I published <i>Jaleth and the Dragons</i> as a stand-alone e-novellette for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jaleth-Dragons-J-R-Sparlin-ebook/dp/B073QF41DZ/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1693810051&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Kindle</a> and <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jaleth-and-the-dragons-jr-sparlin/1127222613?ean=2940158824883" target="_blank">Nook</a>. I did not publish it as a paperback because it is 50 pages long, a "long short story." I intended, at some point, to publish a short-story collection that would include <i>Jaleth and the Dragons</i>, in both print and e-formats. </p><p>However, I realized my parents would not be able to see <i>Jaleth</i> in its e-incarnation, so I decided to put together a print version for them. (It is much easier, by the way, to do the print version first.) I did most of the work and then there it sat for six years. There has been a lot going on. But I finally finished it, got ready to get them copies, and thought . . . why not? I had done all the work and it was ready to go . . . so I went ahead and put it up for sale on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jaleth-Dragons-J-R-Sparlin/dp/1522015418/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1693810051&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Amazon</a>. I'm still planning to do the short story collection, but at this rate it will be a few more years, so <i>Jaleth and the Dragons</i> can stay in print until then.</p><p>Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevkt6c-zeYgrwm1DNiJDqXh1ycvVj6JqR_qW9QSGL81fhCr-GhplwKq-RtU4Tj2j_rhYjrhI7_unOBCUa4NWYxDJEDCfbB8bXp77jVgUKhX_4TAYk2sW7j2qkiLZTofHquvwrmuFW7bt6He6vta0cdI_czy0sVLJmwpSiaYQkGCCFqxr51NOVPRn0FIDO/s2560/Jaleth%20paperback%20cover%20alternate.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjevkt6c-zeYgrwm1DNiJDqXh1ycvVj6JqR_qW9QSGL81fhCr-GhplwKq-RtU4Tj2j_rhYjrhI7_unOBCUa4NWYxDJEDCfbB8bXp77jVgUKhX_4TAYk2sW7j2qkiLZTofHquvwrmuFW7bt6He6vta0cdI_czy0sVLJmwpSiaYQkGCCFqxr51NOVPRn0FIDO/s320/Jaleth%20paperback%20cover%20alternate.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-76594781667700707002022-07-07T18:33:00.000-07:002022-07-07T18:33:35.989-07:00Portrait<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghrBfbw1IW2upQfQxwBTLkzwxP93x4Y4xucfmbROP9BnRNA2BF4h6M0qzpAJxGjDAT8GLorTVEE_8nhSw08V0V5BUxSbegZWK4NceDYC2Ci6_6cT7Bh7a-WqtDeVdLpO1hMhkBaqJ3I6MAUogatVqR4lARdM9qJGSu9aKhsdxruTjmErUe9fwkeSoQoQ/s4134/Profile_of_a_Young_Fiancee_-_da_Vinci.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4134" data-original-width="3057" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghrBfbw1IW2upQfQxwBTLkzwxP93x4Y4xucfmbROP9BnRNA2BF4h6M0qzpAJxGjDAT8GLorTVEE_8nhSw08V0V5BUxSbegZWK4NceDYC2Ci6_6cT7Bh7a-WqtDeVdLpO1hMhkBaqJ3I6MAUogatVqR4lARdM9qJGSu9aKhsdxruTjmErUe9fwkeSoQoQ/s320/Profile_of_a_Young_Fiancee_-_da_Vinci.jpg" width="237" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>La Bella Principessa</i> by Leonardo da Vinci</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p></p><p>My favorite painting by Leonardo da Vinci surfaced a few years ago and was sold at private auction. It is a picture of a girl, in profile, with beautiful wavy hair. It is believed to be the portrait of a fourteen-year old Italian noblewoman, Bianca Sforza, commissioned for her marriage. She was married and then died just a few months after the portrait was painted, probably from complications from pregnancy.</p><p>Such deaths were common then. They are not common now in the developed world, largely because of a network of women's healthcare that includes, but is not limited to, access to abortion for those who require it. </p><p>Bianca Sforza had few human rights. Noblewomen's marriages were arranged. She was, in essence, sold, just as her portrait was sold centuries later. Her father, and then her husband, made the choices about her body that led to her fate.</p><p>Many more deaths like hers will now occur, and there is now no da Vinci to immortalize them. </p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-10798689033261975832022-04-27T17:36:00.000-07:002022-04-27T17:36:10.398-07:00Ghost Yoga<p>I want to do a show on the Travel Channel called GHOST YOGA. It will be either:</p><p>1) People do yoga at haunted places to see if they can feel the ghostly energy.</p><p>2) People do yoga with ghosts.</p><p>3). Ghosts do yoga. (Because ghosts are invisible, this one would be a camera pointed at an empty location for an hour.)</p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-14411700720566029032022-03-31T17:51:00.000-07:002022-03-31T17:51:03.713-07:00March<p> March comes in like a penguin and goes out like an irritable penguin. </p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-82275198494146321562022-03-01T08:33:00.005-08:002022-03-01T08:33:46.266-08:00Small Sanction<p> In support of Ukraine, I have ceased distribution of all my Amazon book titles in Russia. </p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-14184904025761771942021-11-10T05:47:00.000-08:002021-11-10T05:47:41.710-08:00Haiku for #CalltoEarth Day The leaves fall like tears<br />Raining from the last bright trees<br />Of the last autumn<p><a href="#CalltoEarth" target="_blank">#CalltoEarth</a></p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-18350447131512613412021-05-28T19:55:00.001-07:002021-05-28T19:55:28.710-07:00On the Occasion of My Fiftieth Birthday <p>I have a Birthday coming up in a few weeks. I do not want to be this age. I have not accomplished everything I wanted. But looking back, there is so much light and beauty and love.</p><p>This past year I have seen things I never thought I would see, and made choices where every option was a bad decision. I do not think I am better or stronger because of these experiences. I am damaged. I am about to turn fifty and there are strands of moonlight in my hair; but then I have always loved the moon. My family is alive, and I am alive, and my trees are green and beautiful, and taller than last year. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-26985400088651056682020-06-04T17:23:00.000-07:002020-06-04T17:23:05.677-07:00George Floyd Was MurderedThere are things I need to say. These things seem obvious and rational to me. But I am a white woman, and troubled by the concept of "silence is complicity." So I will speak, although these things have already been said, and said better.<br />
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George Floyd was murdered.<br />
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This was a particularly horrific crime, but it is one in a long legacy of similar crimes both remembered and forgotten. The black community has a right to their rage and grief. We must listen.<br />
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We all have the right to peacefully protest.<br />
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Some protests have become violent. That is wrong.<br />
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Some peaceful protests have been scattered by local, state, and federal authorities by violent means. That is wrong.<br />
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No one is above the law.<br />
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We must do better as a society. We must vote. We must value everyone the same. We must be kind and respectful.<br />
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George Floyd was murdered.J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-15104447775188536812019-07-12T17:48:00.000-07:002019-07-12T17:48:43.314-07:00Rules<b>Rules</b><br />
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<i>To be posted outside my house.</i><br />
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1. All small creatures are welcome to shelter in the yard.<br />
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2. Please get along peaceably.<br />
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3. You may eat all the grass and mosquitoes you like; please bring your friends.<br />
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4. Please do not assault the house.<br />
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5. PLEASE DO NOT ENTER THE HOUSE.<br />
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6. Those of you who are skunks, please do not skunk.<br />
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7. Those of you who are not skunks, please do not startle the skunks. J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-34363265763685686842019-06-08T17:50:00.000-07:002019-06-08T17:50:14.518-07:00BlinkA few weeks ago my husband Derek and I attended our nephew Benjamin's high school graduation. We were very tired that day because a woodpecker had been attacking our house since early morning. I sat in the stadium in a sleepy daze watching the pre-ceremony videos the class had put together. In the videos many of them wore 2019 t-shirts. I was thinking to myself, if we had done this sort of thing my shirt would have said 1989; and it slowly worked its way into my brain that there were 9's on the end of both dates, and that it has been thirty years since I graduated from high school. I found this surprising; to add to the impression, the girls in the class wore white gowns just as I had.<br />
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<i>Blink.</i> Decade. <i>Blink</i>. Decade. <i>Blink</i>. Decade.<br />
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The whole day was a bit surreal; here are some random impressions.<br />
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The security guard wished me happy Mother's Day (I have no children).<br />
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Graduations are always poignant with many emotions, with the consciousness of what you are losing mixed with the excitement of what lies ahead. At least Benjamin's class has social media to easily keep in touch with their friends. It was a bit harder for us.<br />
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A really beautiful "hat throw," with white and bright purple hats fluttering like confetti against the dark seats of the arena and the bright light of the floor.<br />
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Young women in white gowns bring to mind angels, nurses, spirits, saints.<br />
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Hecate is the goddess of magic and of the crossroads.<br />
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On the way home, Derek says (loudly, suddenly, without immediate context and to an unspecified audience): "Who doesn't like DuckTales? I will FIGHT you!" J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-49716058736191788212017-12-29T16:49:00.002-08:002017-12-29T16:49:42.951-08:00How Cold Is It?#ItsSoCold I took my pet penguin for a walk.<br />
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#ItsSoCold my hashtag froze.<br />
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#ItsSoCold my snowman is glad he's so fat.<br />
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#ItsSoCold my snowman quit.<br />
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⛄J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-24402033938507280512017-11-14T19:34:00.002-08:002017-11-14T19:34:36.077-08:00Wishes<span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">“I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">― </span><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/656983.J_R_R_Tolkien" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">J.R.R. Tolkien</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;">, </span><span id="quote_book_link_34" style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Merriweather, Georgia, serif; font-size: 14px;"><a class="authorOrTitle" href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/3204327" style="color: #333333; font-family: Lato, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;">The Fellowship of the Ring</a></span>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-34927899588698121712017-10-20T17:49:00.000-07:002017-10-20T17:49:27.255-07:00Jaleth and the Dragons at SCBWI Bookstop!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The <a href="https://www.scbwi.org/scbwibookstop-display/?id=471355" target="_blank">SCBWI Bookstop</a> is a place where Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators can showcase books published this year. I have a page for my e-novelette, <i>Jaleth and the Dragons</i>. I tried to have fun with this page -- there is a silly picture of me with a dinosaur! Please stop by! While you're there, have a look at the other great books by traditionally and independently published authors!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-46481307094431350742017-10-13T19:17:00.002-07:002017-10-13T19:17:20.443-07:00Jaleth and the Dragons, Now on Nook!<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Finally have my e-novelette, <i>Jaleth and the Dragons</i>, available on <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jaleth-and-the-dragons-jr-sparlin/1127222613?ean=2940158824883" target="_blank">Nook</a> as well! It's just in time, because I will be participating in the SCBWI Bookstop next week (more details to come) and I wanted it available on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jaleth-Dragons-J-R-Sparlin-ebook/dp/B073QF41DZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1507947155&sr=1-1&keywords=jaleth+and+the+dragons" target="_blank">Kindle</a> and <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jaleth-and-the-dragons-jr-sparlin/1127222613?ean=2940158824883" target="_blank">Nook</a> before then. ☺</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-91878272937038210222017-08-04T17:41:00.001-07:002017-08-04T17:41:43.143-07:00Jaleth and the Dragons, Now on Kindle!<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Last year I had a short story, "Jaleth and the Dragons," published in an online magazine. I decided recently to publish it as a stand-alone Kindle title. It is about 40 pages long in print, so you could call it a short story, long story, novellette, or novella. I plan to release it on Nook as well, but probably not in paperback as it's not very long. If you'd like to see it, here's the link! <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jaleth-Dragons-J-R-Sparlin-ebook/dp/B073QF41DZ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1501893512&sr=1-1&keywords=jaleth+and+the+dragons" target="_blank">Jaleth and the Dragons on Kindle</a></span><br />
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<br />J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-54861295054870203002017-04-21T20:07:00.001-07:002017-04-21T20:07:09.366-07:00The Court Wizard, Still Available at Watermark Books<i>The Court Wizard</i> will continue to be available at Watermark Books for at least another 90 days!<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>When the old apothecary’s shop blows up in mysterious circumstances, Winnifred brings him home to her aunt’s to take care of him. But when Galen wakes up, he tells her he must flee their country of Sedonia, and she must flee with him. Winnifred finds herself on a ship bound for Fortress-on-Sea, where they meet a handsome stranger, Beldon. Slowly, listening at doors and demanding answers, Winnifred learns the secret of her true destiny, and must decide whether to embrace it.</i></span></span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Winner of the Clare Vanderpool Work of Promise Scholarship, awarded by the Kansas chapter of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators </span></span></div>
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<span id="yiv6585389962yui_3_16_0_ym19_1_1487197781273_7642" style="-webkit-padding-start: 0px; color: #1d2129;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> "Overall, Winnifred's tale has all the hallmarks of a fun coming-of-age adventure story. She's refreshingly less a damsel in distress and more an emerging leader as she grows up. I'd recommend <i>The Court Wizard</i> to any pre-teen interested in medieval fantasy novels." -- <i>Renaissance Magazine</i></span></span></div>
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<br />J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-37349875627149069152017-02-25T18:25:00.000-08:002017-02-25T18:25:08.071-08:00The First Amendment<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." -- The First Amendment</span></span><br />
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Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution.</div>
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<em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">National Archives, Washington, D.C.</em></div>
J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-31825040936209674252017-02-15T10:30:00.000-08:002017-02-15T10:30:35.890-08:00The Court Wizard Reviewed in Renaissance Magazine!<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>The Court Wizard</i> received a very lovely review in Issue 108 of <a href="https://renaissancemagazine.com/" target="_blank">Renaissance Magazine</a>! This is a magazine available at Barnes and Noble and other brick-and-mortar stores, so it's very exciting. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Here's an excerpt from the review by Jessica Titterington: "Overall, Winnifred's tale has all the hallmarks of a fun coming-of-age adventure story. She's refreshingly less a damsel in distress and more an emerging leader as she grows up. I'd recommend "The Court Wizard" to any pre-teen interested in medieval fantasy novels."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-66959441378497350232017-02-03T18:48:00.000-08:002017-02-03T18:50:35.898-08:00The New Colossus<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
"The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus (inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty)</div>
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Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,<br />
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;<br />
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br />A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame<br />Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name<br />MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand<br />Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command<br />The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.</span></div>
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"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she<br />
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,<br />
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,<br />
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.<br />
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,<br />
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!</div>
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Photo credit Elcobbola</div>
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J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-70692474075415620222017-01-29T19:15:00.000-08:002017-01-29T19:15:01.323-08:00Strangers<i>The Book of Sir Thomas More</i> by William Shakespeare, Act II, Scene 4:<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’ll put down strangers, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">And lead the majesty of law in lyam</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">To slip him like a hound; alas, alas, say now the King, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">As he is clement if th’offender mourn, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Should so much come too short of your great trespass </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">As but to banish you: whither would you go? </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">What country, by the nature of your error, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Should give you harbour? Go you to France or Flanders, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">To any German province, Spain or Portugal, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why, you must needs be strangers, would you be pleas’d </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">To find a nation of such barbarous temper </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">That breaking out in hideous violence </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would not afford you an abode on earth. </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whet their detested knives against your throats, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spurn you like dogs, and like as if that God </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Owed not nor made not you, not that the elements </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">Were not all appropriate to your comforts, </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">But charter’d unto them? What would you think </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be us’d thus? This is the strangers’ case </span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this your mountainish inhumanity. </span></div>
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J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-85032804925254191332017-01-08T12:00:00.000-08:002017-01-08T12:00:01.534-08:00The Court Wizard, Now Available at Watermark Books<i>The Court Wizard</i> is now also available at Watermark Books in Wichita, Kansas!<br />
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<br />J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-62866317841324491552016-10-21T19:21:00.003-07:002016-10-21T19:21:51.459-07:00KidLlitCon 2016Last weekend, I attended #KidLitCon 2016. This is an annual conference held in a different city each year, and this year it happened to be in Wichita. I had the fun of seeing <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Court-Wizard-J-R-Sparlin/dp/069228124X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477101773&sr=1-1&keywords=the+court+wizard" target="_blank">The Court Wizard</a> on a table for sale with other books at a conference for the first time. =) I also met some very nice writers, bloggers, and librarians who accepted me into their group and made me feel at home in my own city. #KidLitCon16 <br />
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<br />J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-78207064945927958092016-06-01T20:27:00.000-07:002016-06-01T20:27:26.151-07:00"Murder on Mykonos" Published in FICTION on the WEB!My short story, "Murder on Mykonos," was published on May 27 in <i>FICTION on the WEB!</i> This is a free, online, British magazine. As the title implies, this story is a murder mystery. Editor Charlie Fish gave it this description:<br />
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<i style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">Ginny is asked by her wealthy former roommate to accompany her characterful family on a yacht trip to Mykonos; by J.R. Sparlin.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;">If you'd like to read it, here's the link: <a href="http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2016/05/murder-on-mykonos-by-jr-sparlin.html" target="_blank">"Murder on Mykonos" in FICTION on the WEB</a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.2px;"><br /></span></span>J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-9305144904065573762016-05-20T10:00:00.000-07:002016-05-21T18:20:12.333-07:00A Tribute to David Letterman<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6tOmRE2bzz7-DTHh8R-5uMQAz7zgs7puoNDQITu7CKdf-jtuH5lQ9wN_ZT62JGoBGSUMvzv0_bjHsEMjIUr90GPc0GeZWLpGpkWpGs8zOm3SwODOIMJ8ETVaaqTPkVwjhBDDifkYwPxd/s1600/20150216_175139.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx6tOmRE2bzz7-DTHh8R-5uMQAz7zgs7puoNDQITu7CKdf-jtuH5lQ9wN_ZT62JGoBGSUMvzv0_bjHsEMjIUr90GPc0GeZWLpGpkWpGs8zOm3SwODOIMJ8ETVaaqTPkVwjhBDDifkYwPxd/s320/20150216_175139.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My husband Derek and me, just after we attended a taping of<br />
<i>The Late Show with David Letterman</i> last February<br />
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<i>It has been one year today since the last airing of </i>The Late Show with David Letterman<i>. I wrote this letter to Dave shortly before his retirement. I doubt he had time to read it, but I am including it here to commemorate a great show and a big part of my life.</i><br />
<br />
Dear Dave,<br />
<br />
I started watching your show in 1983 with my dad. I was nine years old. (Apparently my mother did not know about this.) We had lots of fun watching the show together and wrote Top Ten lists and Viewer Mail letters, which we never mailed. Our favorite was:<br />
<br />
Dear Dave,<br />
Why?<br />
<br />
It was my ambition to write for you when I grew up. And I am a writer, although not a well-known one.<br />
<br />
I think that because I have watched the show all my life, it has had a profound effect on my personality and sense of humor, and therefore on my writing. There are of course many influences in a person’s life. But if I am sarcastic and funny, with a finely honed sense of the absurd, it is, in part, because of you. I love how you take all the weird little things people do and make them funny. One of my favorite pieces from the show is “How Many Mice Can Fit in a Dunkin Doughnuts?”<br />
<br />
In more recent years, my husband and I have visited New York a number of times, and have always made it a point to walk or ride past the theater. It has always been a big part, for me, of the magic that is New York City. We were able to go inside and attend two tapings of the show, which were amazing and magical, and I will never forget it.<br />
<br />
And so I have watched the show through the triumphs and tragedies of my life. Just about a year ago, six hours after having major surgery, my nurses were startled to find me sitting up in bed, eating roast beef, watching Dave.<br />
<br />
Thank you for the happiness, diversion, and sheer malicious glee you have given me and my family. I am very, very sad the show is ending, but I wish you great happiness in your retirement. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with myself now at 10:30 every night. Perhaps I will actually get to bed earlier.<br />
<br />
Not likely.<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
Jennifer Sparlin<br />
Wichita, KS <br />
<br />
<br />J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8861186282181461344.post-30358888623845315612016-05-16T21:50:00.000-07:002016-05-16T21:51:44.152-07:00"Murder on Mykonos" to be Published!My mystery short story, "Murder on Mykonos," will be published May 27 in <a href="http://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/" target="_blank">FICTION on the WEB</a>! Yay!J.R. Sparlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14743573981626817093noreply@blogger.com