Book Review — The Bone Curse

Medicine has no cure for evil

 

The Bone Curse by Carrie Rubin is scheduled for release on 27 March 2018 by Science Thriller Media. This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley. There are no spoilers in this review.

Medical student Benjamin Oris has no time for the supernatural, even after a trip to the Paris catacombs leaves him with a minor injury following his unexplained desire to reach a particular set of bones. Back in the United States, logical and pragmatic to a fault, Ben refuses to consider anything but an explainable (if not yet identifiable) medical reason for the sudden illnesses experienced by several people close to him.

Ben’s good friend, Laurette, however, suspects something more at play. While a public health student herself, Laurette is Haitian and believes that “something more” is a Vodou curse.

Believe It Or Not

I still exist. Really, I do. I haven’t slipped into an alternate dimension or been abducted by aliens. But 2017 wasn’t the easiest year, and writing slipped away from me.

I lost my mother in March last year. On St. Patrick’s Day. While it wasn’t totally unexpected (she was 89 and getting frail), I don’t believe we can ever be prepared for that time when it comes. It hit me hard. After all, she had always been part of my life, and now she was gone. The emptiness where she had been was greater than I ever would have imagined.

Then there were some nagging health issues. Nothing serious, but I had to get serious about reducing carbs and sugars, and thankfully my new doctor recommended physical therapy for my back, which had been way too stiff in the aftermath of two herniated disks.

And now in 2018, I’m feeling better. And there’s a new story underway. It’s different from the original three I’d been working on. There’s some writing wisdom out there that says we have to write three not-so-great books before we finally write a good one. I’m hoping that’s true.

I’ll probably make some changes to the blog’s appearance, in the near future. My Able theme is long retired from WordPress. I think that’s a sign to undertake a major refresh. I still won’t do many posts because I have to concentrate on getting back in the writing-of-novels mode. Ultimately that’s the whole reason for the writing of blog posts for me.

In my next-to-last call with my mom, she asked how the writing was going. I was honest and said not so well, but I was hoping it would pick up again. To that she said, “Don’t stop writing.” And I said “I won’t.”

Maybe this new idea won’t end up being the right one. If it does get published, maybe it won’t go anywhere. And maybe that’s okay.

But I’ll keep that last promise to my mom.

Writing Again

No, you’re not imagining things. This really is a post from jmmcdowell. Albeit, a brief one. My blogging hiatus continues because I’m finally working on the novels again. And they must take priority. October’s word count is approaching 9,000—a significant increase over September’s 6,800. I need to keep the momentum going. And that means the time hasn’t yet come to dive into blogging again.I hope you’re all doing well and finding success in all your endeavors. Keep at them! If all goes as planned, the new year should bring new posts. And then…? Well, we’ll just have to see. 🙂

Recuperating

Just a brief post letting you know I won’t be around the blogosphere much for a while. I’m uber busy at work and dealing with a herniated disc that makes spending too much time at the computer less than fun. So work gets the lion’s share of my time. When I can stop by to visit, you might be seeing “likes” from me but not so much in the way of comments. Here’s hoping everything’s back to normal before too long!

I’m THAT Reader

THAT reader? Which one is that?

Why, the one that writers dread.

Well, what’s so bad about that?

I’m a writer.

I hope no one thought I’d use a real author’s book for this post!

We Are Not Amused — Or Are We?

Embed from Getty Images

 

I dare say Queen Victoria of England would be bemused by modern English in all its forms—British, American, Australian, Indian…. After all, language changes. That is fact. If language didn’t change, we’d have no problem communicating. Why not? Because we’d all still be speaking a single language. As to whether the queen would be amused, well, isn’t that all together another beast?

How To Support Your Favorite Writers — Library Recommendations

How many times has this happened? You hear about a new book, and, unsure about forking out the money on a writer you don’t know, you head to the library to check it out. And you love it. I’m  betting at least some of you have found a new favorite author this way. Maybe you rush out and buy every book the author has written. Or you check out every one of the author’s books that your library carries.

This wouldn’t be your typical “New Releases” shelf, but you get the idea.

But have you every stopped to wonder how those books end up on those library shelves? Do you know that you can have a hand in their appearance?

Which Way To Go

Well, the New Year is here. While I’m not normally one to make resolutions, this year, the time seemed right to do so. Of course, figuring out which goals should take priority isn’t always easy. But it was a heck of a lot easier than figuring out exactly what pedestrians are supposed to do when confronted with the situation pictured below!

So are pedestrians meant to be part of an obstacle course for drivers? Or must they step into an alternate dimension to cross the bridge?

My 2015 In Brief Review

2015 has been a year of changes, both good and bad. In some ways, that’s true of every year. But sometimes the good is sweeter and the bad harder to bear.

My 2015 PerNoReMo

Well, it’s that time of year again, and given my post topic, uploading it today rather than Tuesday makes some sense.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of the views around the new neighborhood!

Thousands are taking on the challenge of NaNoWriMo—National Novel Writing Month. If you’re one of them, I’m cheering you on and wishing you every success. If you’ve been with me for most of my now four years of blogging, you know this is one challenge I’ll never undertake. But I use the energy for something else. Something I call PerNoReMo.