Books, Blood and Book Blurb # 80

       Tomorrow I will be participating in an indie author event at Spencer Road Branch Library in St. Charles. Several writing friends will also be there, including Donna Volkenannt, Linda O'Connell, Lynn Obermoeller and Pat Wahler. Maybe Marcia Gaye? Probably others I'm forgetting to mention...

      If you live in the area, drop by. It's from 10-2. There will be refreshments, along with over 100 authors eager to talk about (and sell) their books...

      So, you might be busy tomorrow, but you're looking for something to do on Tuesday evening, something that involves blood? How about giving a pint? St. James the Greater School (1360 Tamm Avenue) is having a blood drive on Tuesday, Oct. 17 from 3-6:30. Of course, after a blood donation, you need to eat something. There are several wonderful restaurants right on Tamm, as you head back up the few blocks to Oakland... Seamus McDaniels, Felix's and Nora's (which has snagged national acclaim for its sandwiches). And at Seamus and Felix's, I know you can drink a pint (or two). I will be there at my school, working with a couple of my 8th graders, along with donating blood.


     And now onto back-of-the-book blurb business...
        
         Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book. You choose the genre. Is it a how-to book on making hand puppets? Is it sci-fi... birds and hands have mated, resulting in new creatures? You decide.

         Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Blurbs are those enticing bits that prod you into buying the book. Sometimes they're on the back cover of the book. Sometimes they're on the inside front cover. What they always try to do is lure you into purchasing the book. 

          Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this writing challenge. She moved to Florida, and is too busy to host a weekly book blurb. Her first romance novel, Love Built to Last, just came out as an audio book. Her newest project? A B & B & B--a bed and breakfast and barkery. Lisa is constructing a bed and breakfast out of her piles of rejection letters (you can't be as successful as Lisa without getting lots of rejection), and off to the side of the bed and breakfast will be a bakery for dogs (and cats). Fortunately, she has offered her St. Louis writing friends a free stay whenever they head to Florida.

          Thanks, Lisa.

         
          Okay, back to book blurb stuff.
     

          Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. Also, link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is. And then, check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.

        Here's the book cover, along with my blurb: 

Et Tu, Toucan?

Bernie had his own business. He did puppet shows at kids’ birthday parties. He entertained at cocktail events, when rich folks need a little diversion before a symphony concert started tuning up.

But recently, disturbing things are happening.

Bernie’s hand puppets--intricately painted onto his hands along with onto the hands of his assistants--have turned on him. It’s strange, but the hand puppets have grown backbones of their own.

They talk back. And what they say is not very nice.

“Hey Buddy. You really slopped the paint on at the end of my tail. What a slob you’ve become.” (This was stage-whispered during a preschool party.)

“Hey, Jerk. Your knuckles are way too hairy to pull off this snake puppet. Have you ever thought of shaving? I mean, really.”

Will Bernie be able to give those hand puppets a slap on the wrist? Or, will they completely take over? (148 words)

And for those who want to work ahead, here is the photo for this next week: