BIG BOOK SALE!

 It’s that time of year. The time for buying presents, making wish lists, and planning New Year’s Resolutions. If any of those activities involve books for you, Indie Christian Authors has a perfect event for you. From Nov 27 through Nov 30th, more than 70 independent Christian books are on sale. You can find free shipping, $0.99 ebooks, package deals, and more! And if your budget is depleted from Christmas shopping, they’ve got you covered with some freebies Think 70 books is overwhelming? Narrow it down and find the perfect books for you or someone on your Christmas list by using this quiz to generate a customized book list.

A note on the Ebooks Only page. All books are listed as “Sold Out.” This only refers to paperback copies of these titles. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good for her work organizing this sale, Gloria Repp for completing the time consuming job of uploading book info to the sale website, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

(As you can probably tell, I didn't write this post)

Personaly, I'd like to read the Minstrels Song series be Jenelle Schmidt. 

Bye for now, and have fun buying books!  

The Beesheep Family

Hello Readers!

Today I have a short story to tell you. It was written as part of an English course called IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing). Mum drew three pictures which I then wrote a story from. Feel free to tell me what you like, or what you think I should change.

The pictures (Mum intended them to be the billy goats gruff):

The Beesheep Family

By Jemma Tainsh

Once upon a time in the Land of Strange And Unusual Animals there dwelt a family of Beesheep. Beesheep are delightfully queer. While Snarks have fins and fangs, and Crogs skitter along the sand croaking, Beesheep are very useful in that they make honey as well as woolly jumpers. At the time of this tale, the youngest Beesheep (whose name was Bob) had gone out to wander over the hills. Bleating and buzzing joyfully, Bob bounded around with his sister – Carmella. They bounced over hills like enthusiastic frogs. Abruptly disturbing the peace of the countryside, Bob suddenly shrieked in delight. Carmella looked up in surprise. “What is it?!” She cried in a tone of excitement. “I saw a coconut!” Exclaimed the exuberant Bob, “just over that hill over there!” He was very excited you see, because it is very rare to find a coconut in the land of strange and unusual animals.

Unfortunately, when Bob arrived at the scene of the coconuts he was greatly disappointed. “Who could have conceived it?” he cried in dismay. “These lovely coconuts are eggs in disguise! Eggs of an Ostrigoose if I’m one to judge.” he noted most dolefully. Behind him his sister was also quite sad. “Although my meals are delightfully variant, I must really say I would have enjoyed a coconut today.” Sighing most sadly, they both walked away. Terrible disappointment hung over them both.

When they arrived at their gigantic Bee Hive, the whole family became as sad as they were. “How terrible!” cried Pete.

“How miserable!” wept Jen.

“How positively tragic!” Papa sniffed.

Sobbing quite terribly, Mamma Beesheep was inconsolable. “Coconut toast would have done me just right.” She moaned very dismally as she considered their plight. Disappointed Papa stared at the ground, edging his feet round a hole that was there. Then with surprise he lept in the air! “Which of you wants to know what I found?” Around him the family stopped in surprise. Hopefully crying out all in one voice “We do Dad, we do!” “Four lovely big coconuts here in this hole!” He exclaimed with a cheer. “What a strange happening” the Beesheep family rejoiced, “that makes one for each of us!”


A bit of a silly story :) 
I might not write many blog posts this month as I am participating in NaNoWriMo. My username is JemmaToad if you want to be buddies. 

   

Sweater Weather tag

Hullo Dear Readers

Recently I was tagged by Amazing Allison from the Art of Storytelling (Thank you :D)

It's actually pretty hot here in Australia, but Autumn is my favorite season :)

Now for the questions:

Favorite Candle Scent? 
Pear and Ginger, it smells so good....:)

Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate :D I love the cadbury mint :D In summer I have cold chocolate:D I try to like coffee but it's not working to well... I like Mocha's too, a mix between Hot chocolate and coffee.

What's your best Autumn memory? 
Tough....Maybe my 12th birthday party. It was a dress up party, people dressed up in things varying from Will Treaty to Tintin. I was Luke Skywalker :) It was very fun :D

Best fragrence for Autumn?
Hot chocolate, I love that smell. Or wood smoke :D

Favorite Thanksgiving dinner (I don't have thanksgiving so I'll say Easter)?
Umm... Lamb roast? With gravy. And lots of homemade chips :)

Most worn jumper?
A navy blue hoody. It had a long pocket that you could put both your hands in. It got to small though... :(

Football games or jumping in leaf piles?
Leaf piles :D They sound really fun:)

Skinny jeans or leggings?
Skinny jeans, or just jeans (mostly tracky pants actually...).

Combat boots or Ugg boots?
Ugg boots :D Mine are all fluffy on the inside :)

Is Pumpkin spice worth the hype?
I've never actually tried it. (Or heard of it)

Favorite Autumn movie?
Hogfather, it's not really Autumn, but oh well :)

What do you want to be for Halloween?
I've never actually celebrated Halloween.

Hats or Scarves?
I love my beanie, it's so snug and warm :)

What's your 1# favorite thing about Autumn?
 My birthday :D I love having birthdays :) This year for my birthday I got a blog :D

I don't really have anyone to tag who hasn't already been tagged so goodbye readers and thanks again for tagging me Allison :)

Sir Walter Whiskerface

Hello Dear Readers :D


Yesterday I finished a project which I have been working on for a looong time.

For Christmas last year I received a knitted cat toy kit. I am finally finished!

Please welcome..... Sir Walter Whiskerface!

Hello!

I made Sir Walter to the sounds of many audiobooks; War and Peace, The Woman in White (giving him the name Walter after Walter Hartright) and finally Pygmalion.

Why yes indeed, how true

 He is a very dignified cat with a fondness for reading mysteries with Mum.

Oh my goodness! Really?

 Though he can be surprised very easily.

Sir Walter says fair thee well

Fair thee well, dear readers and thanks for reading! :)

A Holiday in Queensland

Hello dear readers!

I'm back! I've just been away on a two week holiday to Queensland. Be prepared for a very long post about my adventures :)


First stage:A loooong to Brisbane, stayed with relatives for a day.

Second stage: 7 hr drive to Gladstone.

Third stage: 8 hr drive to Arlie Beach.

Arlie Beach was amazing! On the first day we hung out on the beach and went shopping in the mall
The next day we went on a cruise! We hopped on a boat out to a pontoon on the Great Barrier Reef! On the pontoon we went snorkeling, the water was pretty cold but there were fish swimming around everywhere! When we hopped out of the water we had lunch then got in a submersible boat. The submersible boat had windows along the bottom so you could look out among the fishies and the coral. I even saw a shark!

On the top deck (Mum's Pic) (I'm the one with dark hair)

Cruising through the Whitsunday Islands 

View from the submersible boat (Mum's Pic)

About to go snorkeling, we're all in our stinger suits
(Photo by onboard photographer)

Me and Dad on the boat (Mum's Pic)

Forth stage: 7 hr drive to Malanda Falls.

In Malanda Falls we went to a family reunion, the reason of our holiday. And we also visited some waterfalls. Unfortunately I was sick and didn't enjoy much of Malanda. (Though I definitely enjoyed the chocolate factory, mmmm, chocolate...)

Millaa Millaa Falls

Zillie Falls

Ellinjaa Falls

Millaa Millaa Falls again

We saw an echidna! (Mum's Pic)

And there were goats/sheep at our caravan park :D
(Mum's Pic)

Fifth stage: A 3 hr drive to Cow Bay.

Cow Bay is located in the Daintree Rainforest, a pretty impressive rain forest I must say.

I found a Gecko! So cute! (Mum's Pic) 

Our cabin was a little getaway place in the forest, so we were all alone with the birds and butterflies. On the first day we visited the Daintree discovery centre, where we went on a few walks and I saw a Cassowary. (Cassowaries are endangered.)

Some birds nests (Dad's Pic)

After Cow Bay we drove back through Arlie, Gladstone and Brisbane and now I'm home again! It's good to be back :D

If you want to see more photos have a look at Mum's blog
How were your holidays dear readers? Read any good books lately?



Thanks for reading! See you next time. :)

War and Peace

Hi Readers!

I finished War and Peace recently! I downloaded an audio book version from Librivox. I thought "I could finish this in a month!" when I finished one book out of seventeen in two days. I was much mistaken. It ended up taking from May till September - so much for my estimation:).

War and Peace was a pretty amazing book. The plot was quite gripping and the history was interesting. And boy if I did a line graph for the characters of how much I like them it would go from middling, to a sudden dive, then a peak, then a dip, and on, and on, and on.

I would recommend War and Peace to people who like to read and who also like the kind of french aristocracy type of story (Russian, not French though (not much of a difference)).
If you liked Les Miserables then you'll probably like War and Peace. (And vice versa)

I can't wait for 2016, BBC is doing a TV series for it :D

By the way, I won't be writing any post for the next two weeks, though I will still respond to comments and such.


Thanks for reading!
   

The Garden in Spring

Hi Readers!


Today Mum lent me her camera and I went wandering in the garden.
Here are some of the things I found.

What do you think, dear readers? 

Thanks for dropping by!

My Amazing Dad

It's Father's Day! Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there. (And everyone else)

I just want to write this post about my amazing Dad.

Even though he's working all day, he still manages to have time for his kids.
His hugs are so wonderful, and he hugs me a lot.
He's a good teacher and he helps me out when I need help.
I don't even know how to express everything in words.
I just love him so much.

Thank you Dad for being so marvelous.

Medieval Ducks

Hiya Readers!

This is not what the blog post is about

The knighting of Sir Duckious the deranged / defender of drakes

What the blog post is about is a fun craft I found out called Warfare by Duct Tape
I have spent the last few weeks making weapons out of Duct tape, foam and pipes.
Homeschooling is awesome :D.

Here are some of my creations:

Mace and Flail

My first creation, the armored glove.  

I gave all my swords literary names :).

Top - Excalibur. Bottom - Hrunting (A failed experiment) 

The intrepid explorer discovers proof that Aragorn existed, his sword, Anduril, the flame of the west

What literary name would you give a sword, dear reader?
Bye for now :).

PS. I rather like Sir Duckious, I would like to write about him. What should he be?
Sir Duckious the Deranged? Sir Duckious the Defender of Drakes? Or something even wilder?

Movie Review - Home

Hi Readers

I was having a sleepover at my youth group last night and we watched an adorable movie!

Home is a movie about an alien called Oh who has come to live on planet earth. Oh has a bit of trouble making friends. His trouble gets even worse when he accidental invites some terrifying aliens to his house-warming party. The movie follows his adventures with a girl called Tip and her cat, Pig, as they try to save Earth.

I really enjoyed it. Oh is so cute! And Tip. And Pig. And all the Boovs. The plot is good and the characters are creative and real. I would recommend Home to everyone, though there are a few emotional scenes that really little or very empathetic children might be upset by.

Bye Readers and thanks for reading! (Now go get watching :) )

The Reads of July

Hello there readers!

I have been requested to write a post about what I have been reading lately. So I give you...

The (completed) Reads of July! (Be warned, I read a lot in July)

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Great book! I really liked it. I normally don't like 'growing up' kind of books, but this one was very good. It's about a girl called Scout growing up in a little town in Alabama. I would recommend this to people 13+

Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and the Hunting of the Snark

Lewis Carroll was a genius! The books about Alice are funny, sweet and whimsical all at the same time. I would recommend them to anyone who can read. The Hunting of the Snark was an amusing poem which is great to read out loud. Younger readers would find it a bit confusing but other than that everyone should read it. (Out loud, it sounds even funnier)

The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett

Another amusing book by Sir Pratchett. Rincewind has been teleported to Australia (I mean Fourecks), the Librarian has a cold and the Wizards have gone back in time. :). 

Please note, we Australians do not say G'day all the time (practically never) and we don't drink beer all the time either.  I would recommend this for mature readers who like satire and dry humor and can overlook the rude references/language.

The Hunger Game and Catching Fire by Susanne Collins

Very exciting! Hard to put down, I really enjoyed it. Rather violent though :(

I'd recommend it to mature readers who like dystopian novels and can cope with the violence.

Until That Distant Day by Jill Stengl

I really enjoyed this. It was well written and I loved the characters.
I would recommend this to people who like French books, and are interested in times surrounding the French Revolution.

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

An nontraditional princess runs away to live with a dragon. Very fun. I'm probably not the target audience though. Children 6-11 would probably really love it!

Another children's book is
The Secret of Indigo Moon by G. P. Taylor

The second in the Dopple-Ganger series. These books are cleverly done, with pages of words and pages of graphic novel. Good for kids who benefit from a mix of graphics and text. 7+

King Arthur and Her Knights by K. M. Shea

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if King Arthur was a girl? A cleverly done tale of King Arthur (or Britt Arthurs). I've read the first two books, they were short but fun.
I would recommend them to people who like fantasy, King Arthur and are in their teens.

And finally: (this isn't really a novel, but I loved it so much)
The Discovery of Dragons: New Research Revealed! by Graeme Base

A collection of letters detailing the discovery of dragons from all over the world. The letters are hilarious and the artwork is amazing (like all Graeme Base books).

If you want to know more books I've read in July look HERE.

Bye for now!

Cappy and Guinea Pigs

Hi Readers!

I've been meaning to write this post for a looonnng time. And here it finally is.

A few months ago I learned to crochet. After seeing some cute pictures on Pintrest I decided to crochet the Avengers! Here is my first Avenger (Captain America). What do you think?

Cappy the crocheted Avenger

And last month for my little sister's birthday I crocheted her a litter of Guinea Pigs!
They're called Speckles, Stripe and Splotches. Can you guess which one is which?

Thanks to Mum for the photography. You can see more of her awesome pictures at her blog, Three Little Chickens

For any crocheters out there, these are the patterns I used:
Cappy's body, Cappy's Shield. And the Guinea Pigs.

Bye for now! Thanks for reading!

Five Enchanted Roses

I can not wait to read Five Enchanted Roses! 

It is a collection of Beauty and the Beast re-tellings and it looks fantastic!

Doesn't that look exciting? This is my favorite blurb

Check out http://anneelisabethstengl.blogspot.com.au/ to find out more!

Until next time!

Randomicity Tag

Recently I was tagged by Alison for the Tag of Randomicity!

The Rules are: 

•  Paste the button onto your blog post.

•  Leave a new list of questions (or just pass on the question list you answered) and tag a few people of your random choice (and say why you tagged them, if you have time!) (Be original and nonsensical in your question-creativity – make the blogging world a cheerful place.  And be disastrously random.)

• Answer the questions of the person who tagged you – make it all super random and interesting.

These are the questions I got asked:

1. How did you (the tagged) meet me (the tagger)?

I met Alison on the blog 'Tales of Goldstone Wood' and she was so nice that I started reading her blog. 

2. What do you consider your quirkiest trait?

My sense of humor, Mum might agree but my siblings probably wouldn't. 

3. If you could host a party with all of your favorite characters, who would you invite and what antics would transpire? 

This is an awesome question! Legolas, Robin Hood, Katniss, Will and Halt would be having an all out archery contest. Gandalf would be gather a bunch of people to go on a quest/journey. Nobby Nobs would be picking up unconsidered trifles, Nanny Ogg would be picking up unconsidered bowls of sponge cake, jelly and fruit, and Eugenides would be picking up much-considered earrings. Among the crowd would be loads of people like Gemma and Dylan (K M Shea), Dido (Joan Aiken), Eanrin and Leo (Anne Elisabeth Stengl), Prince Andrew(Tolstoy), Jean valJean(Victor Hugo) and others. 

4. What was your most epic moment?  Feel free to exaggerate-- I mean, elaborate.

I haven't had any epic moments yet, but it will be when I get knighted for my contribution to literature :)

5. Where is your family from?

If you mean originally, Scotland (with a touch of German and Polish). If you mean last few generations, Australia. 

6. What will you title the movie version of your biography, and who will play you in it? 

The woman who conquered the nations ( subtitle - with words). I have no idea who could play me. They'd have to ditch the make-up and cut their hair, though. 

7. If a cloaked stranger with poorly cut hair invited you to help return the One Ring to Mordor, how soon could you be ready, and what would you bring?

I would be ready in about a week and I would bring a Sam Gamgee. 

8. Which two characters would you happily play matchmaker for?  (Note: they can't be from the same book.)

Hmmm... Jean valJean(Les Miserables) and Beth (Little Women).

9. If you could brag that you had read any book without actually having to read it, which book would you choose?

The Encyclopedia Britannia. Or the dictionary.

10. And finally, what was your favorite blog post you ever wrote?

Probably the Liebster Award tag 

Thanks for the fun questions Alison!

My questions are:

1. What do you think of when you see orange? 

2. What is the funniest movie quote you can remember?

3. What is a book you love so much you would give it to all your children and grandchildren (and everyone else)?

4. Why do you play tennis in socks and swimmers?

5. Favorite pizza flavor?

6. Are you writing a story? If so, can we have a snippet?

7. What superhero power would you like?

8. And what would you name a pet fly?

I tag Clara Darling at To Find a Castle, Kathy Tainsh at Three Little Chickens and I think that's everyone who hasn't already been tagged.

Liebster Award

I just tagged for the Liebster Award by Ghost Ryter, who writes an awesome blog

The Rules are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog.
2. Answer the 11 questions from the blog who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 bloggers to receive this award.
4. Come up with 11 questions for your nominees!

Here are the questions Ghost Ryter asked me:

Was there a story behind your blog's name?

I really like writing stories and I have always loved Robin Hood. So I combined the two to make The Sherwood Storyteller. 

What was the last book you read? Did you like it?

The last book I read was called Dealing with Dragons. I did like it, it was amusing and I think that my sister (it was her birthday present) will definitely enjoy it.

Favorite childhood book or movie?

Arrrggghh! A hard one! Maybe for book it would be The Lord of the Rings, Thud

or Shadow Hand. Movies would be The Lord of the Rings or Alice in Wonderland. 

If you ran across your favorite author in the grocery store, how would you react? 

I would freak out, grab Mum and then shyly go up to them and ask them round for dinner. 

What's one skill that you're especially proud of?

Probably my logic skills

One thing you really want to learn?

Fencing! Or horse riding and proper archery!

Would you rather be stranded on a desert island or lost in the woods?

Lost in the woods definitely, then I could be rescued by elves or raised by wolves.  

Favorite book so far this year?

That's tough... Les Miserables? The Book Thief? Or maybe Howl's Moving Castle. One of those.

Where do you get most of your books?

From the library! Libraries are awesome!

What mythical creature would you like as a pet?

I would say dragon, but they're a fire risk so maybe a gryphon. 

Speaking of pets do you have one? (Share a picture if you do)

I have a Jack Russel/Fox Terrier named Jack, he is adorable!
Here is a picture of him: 

Ok, now I need to ask 11 questions, they are:

1. Where would you prefer to live? In a flying castle, or a maze-like garden?

2. What is your favorite food? 

3. What would you do if you found buried treasure?

4.(Mwa ha ha!) What one book would you want everyone in the world to read?

5. Do you play an instrument? If so, which one? 

6.  Dream job?

7. Have you ever been in snow? 

8. If you are writing a book, what is the title?

9. A cart rumbles down the road in a deep, dark forest. Then suddenly bandits jump out and attack! A tall cloaked figure leaps out of the cart shouting "   ". What does he/she say?

10. What is your favorite book to quote?

11. Where would you most like to go? 

And the people I tag are... well, if you have a blog and you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. 

Perfect Words tag

Hi Readers

I just got tagged  by Alison for something called Perfect Words.

The challenge: select and share three of your favorite textual passages, where you feel the author found the ‘perfect words’.  Then tag your friends!


Number one is from The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket

"Certain people have said that the world is like a calm pond, and that anytime a person does even the smallest this, it is as if a stone has dropped into the pond, spreading circles of  ripples further and further out until the entire world has been changed by one tiny action"

And of course, being Lemony Snicket he then tells you to drop the book in a pond.

Number two is some very good advice from Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!"

Believing in impossible things is a very good practice indeed

And last of all, an author famous for perfect words - Shakespeare! (Romeo and Juliet)

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

Very true.

Now I have to tag someone. The only person I can think of who hasn't been tagged is:
 Kathy Tainsh at Three Little Chickens

Thanks for reading!

Of rainy poetry and stories to be told

Hi Readers!
It's raining here, yay! And so I give you a poem (in a loose definition of the word poem) about rain!

A Rainy Winter's Day by Jemma
Rain falls from the sky, mist rolls over the hills
rain drops sparkle on the bushes and everything is a brilliant green
miniature rivers run lazily across the ground,
and a little brown dog shakes himself vigorously.
The bare branches of the ornamental pear are laden with drops,
diamonds in the mist.

What do you think? It was kind of fun to compose - especially since I'm inside and cosy - not outside and wet like my dog, Jack.
In this post I would like to share a bit about some stories I'm writing. On the subject of rain, here is a snippet of an un-named story.

"Rain rain, have you seen my beloved?",The lover called to the rain,
"Not us, not us" the rain whispered back, "try the north wind, maybe he will have seen your beloved". And the rain pattered away on gentle feet.

I am writing a LOT of stories at the moment. A sleeping beauty retelling, a tale of a lover's search for her beloved, a Cinderella retelling and The Wacky Adventures of Septyc Hors.
The main one is Septyc Hors, it is about an evil henchman call Septyc Hors. A rather unsuccessful evil henchman.

Bye Readers! Thank you for reading!

Series Review - How To Train Your Dragon

Hi Readers!

Today I am going to review the How To Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell.

Toothless

I read the books to my little sister (8) and she loved it!
They're very fun and suitable for about ages 6-120.
Hiccup, Fishlegs, Camicazi and all the rest of the characters are well written and easy to relate to. The plot was also great - one of my favorite things about the series in fact.
Some other things I enjoyed were; Dragonese - the language of dragons and the illustrations.
On the whole, How To Train Your Dragon gets a 5 star review from me.

New Guitar

Hi Readers!
I got a new guitar on Friday! What do you think?

Draven's Light

I read a good book recently! It's called Draven's Light by Anne Elisabeth Stengl - who writes a truly great series called The Tales of Goldstone Wood. Draven's Light is a part of this series but is also a stand alone book. I found it un-put-downable  (which I'm pretty sure isn't a word). The characters were great, the plot was great and the world is very well put together. I recommend this book, but not for young readers due to violent themes.
You can buy the book Here.

Welcome

Hello Readers!
Welcome to the Sherwood Storyteller! I absolutely love to read! On this blog you will find reviews for books and movies as well a photos and knitting patterns.
Thanks for dropping by!