Green Stone of Healing

Author C.L. Talmadge will be my guest on September 6 for another in this series of authors discussing their writing. Here's what one reviewer had to say about an earlier book in the series:

"Exceptional job of writing, and keeping this story tightly together in a genre that is certainly difficult to do such, our author is top-notch," Shirley P. Johnson writes about Fallout in Midwest Book Review. "If you love an intense read, packed with sinister power seekers, grueling heartless characters, yet laced with mystical moments, the lure of peace and healing, and the hope that goodness will prevail, this read is for you."

The Green Stone of Healing® fictional epic explores what happens when politics and piety collide in an island nation called Azgard. Theocrats plot to impose total control over Azgard but end up destroying their country and much of the rest of the world. The series portrays four generations of strong-willed heroines who use their mysterious gem to offer a healing, inclusive alternative to the hate-filled bigotry of religious tyrants. Books One through Three are released, with the release of Book Four to be announced.

And if you'd like a chance to win not just one, but three books, Candace will be giving away an autographed set of her books in the series to one randomly drawn commenter from the tour, so come have your say. You might be the lucky winner!

Globetrotting

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "to talk of many things: Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax-- Of cabbages--and kings..."

Of planes--and trains--and foreign lands. Of the joy that travel brings.

I'm off again on my globetrotting adventures. I'll be heading thousands of miles from home, winging my way through the sky, only to end up at the same place I left. But I won't be the same person. Every time I travel anywhere, my heart and soul expand. I meet new people, imprint a new landscape on my mind, and become one with the wider world. No longer is that place just a dot on a map. It explodes from a 2-D, easy-to-ignore spot into a fully fleshed out world. It becomes real. When I read news about a place I've been, I ache. I think about the people that live there and hope they're OK. Their pain becomes my pain.

I often wonder if the solution to world peace is travel. If everyone spent time in various spots around the world, they'd open their hearts to the people there. They'd care about that place and what happens there. It's so much harder to close your eyes to the pain and suffering of people you know. Travel to Africa. See the AIDS orphans. Look at the poverty of India--not on TV or in magazine pictures, but firsthand. Experience a drought and learn how precious water can be. Afterward, it's hard to turn your back when you see charity appeals to help the people you've seen. Suddenly, they become real. Their problems become your problems. Their poverty becomes your responsibility. You are them and they are you.

Whenever I arrive home after a trip, I've not only increased my understanding of myself and others, but I've added to my family--I now have relatives all over the globe. I've also added another country to care about. They say travel is broadening, and it's true. It enlarges your horizon, your understanding, your heart.