New Disney "Nessie" Short

Exciting new about one of the Loch Ness Monsters. There story will be told by Disney in a wonderful animated short.
http://fairytalenewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/ballad-of-nessie.html

Book and Cover Reviews XI

The cover is sooo cute :)
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Martina Lans
August 27, 2009



I love the front picture with the glitter.. so cute!!!
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Natasa Mirkovic
August 27, 2009



I like the glitter.
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Robert Tjan
August 27, 2009



Looks great! Good luck Julie!
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Victor Andersson
August 27, 2009



Great Job! I love the title, the book is amazing!
Overall rating: 4.3
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 4.0
Summary: 4.0
Reviewed by Alexis Ramirez
August 27, 2009



Great cover design.
Overall rating: 3.7
Book Title: 4.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 2.0
Reviewed by Andrew Bartlett
August 27, 2009



Wonderful art on the cover. Wonderful author! Great job, Julie!! Best of luck to you.
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Elizabeth A. Popwell
August 26, 2009



Great.
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Daniel Salomonsson
August 26, 2009



The book is very creative!
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Hannah Caves
August 26, 2009



Awesome!
Overall rating: 5.0
Book Title: 5.0
Cover Design: 5.0
Summary: 5.0
Reviewed by Gustav Granath
August 26, 2009

Sunday, June 7th

Today, an opportunity to share the beauty of Alinda's story unfolded as I walked down State Street in my beloved Santa Barbara, California. After seeing three former students and listening how each of their current personal and professional lives are developing, I followed my daughter and her new husband into a bookstore. After browsing those hallow selves, I decided to ask one of the young associates working in a section of the store that sold fantasy books, if he thought they might be interested in the book my fellow teacher (who lives across the pond) and I had written. He was fascinated by the story and said he thought it deserved to be "pitched" to his manager.

After meeting with his manager, the following offer was given. As long as the book could be evaluated and judged as a "good read" and would not be under either a "vanity press or “print on demand," (which it is not as we also have begun our own publishing entity) they would offer us the chance to both sell it and promote it. If Oonagh and I wished, we could also do a reading and signing promotion.

It will be approximately three weeks until the audio book and printed book will be available for sale, gifts, or promotion (it take quite a while to build a life, a family, an education, and a book) in their "perfected" form. The new publishing website "Across the Pond" is being designed as we speak...When we dream...we think...When we put the magic ingredient in our work which is "love," our product will be beyond the ordinary...and beyond our own imagination or expectations.

Urquhart Castle - Loch Ness - Scotland

This has been an amazing week. Finally,I was able to see through my human eyes rather than the "eyes of the imagination" the ancestral home of Aurora of Inverness-shire and her daughter, Alinda. The journey to Loch Ness has been one of the greatest gifts I have ever received from my husband, Paul. Finding out that Oonagh (co-author of our book) would be there at the same time visiting her Mum and her brother and sister-in-law, made this adventure even more enchanting...


As Oonagh and I wrote the tale of Sleeping Beauty's daughter set in her home of Scotland, I knew it would look and feel exactly as it did. I was right.



The highlands of Scotland I have discovered this week are both mysterious and magical. After telling a guide a Urquhart castle the story of Alinda, he excitedly responded, "Oh, she must exist, only in a parallel universe." I both laughed and smiled at the truth within his comment. That universe does exist. It has existed in the minds of Oonagh and I...and it has been incredible accessing it.


Tale of the Saint and the King of Urquhart Castle

A robust holy man named Columba was often to be found journeying by boat between holy Ireland (the land of his birth) and enchanted Scotland (the land of his soul). Many a time St. Columba would be found to have traveled from nation to nation sharing the good news of his beloved God-man.

During one of his trips to sacred Scotland he was lead to a great and good King. This King had built a fine castle on a rocky outcop where many magic stories had been said to have occurred. The name of his stonghold would come to be known as Urquart Castle of Loch Ness. The king was Brude the Brave and True. This good and just King had been told through predictions, that his land would be visited by a holy man bearing good news. The people and King knew at once the prophecy was completed by their meetings with this strange and holy man, Columba.

King Brude and his people loved to listen to the stories told of the gentle God-man by Columba and his good brothers. The stories resonated with the people as enchantment and interaction with the unnseen was commonplace for those who lived in the land of miracles. They understood the beauty and unending power of a God force inside the body of a man. Again, it was easy for them to believe as they had the gift of unending faith.


King Brude would often entertain Saint Columba and his friends. They stopped and visited when on an adventure to share stories of their God. As the Loch and Valley had hosted many holy missionaries who traveled through it, the name of the area was often known as the "Valley of the Saints."

A story of Saint Columba regarding the power of the enchantment of His God of Light was often told by the Pictish King Brude and his people. It seems one night in Urquart castle, a grand cross appeared on a carved pagan monument. The cross shone so bright upon the symbols of the old faith that all who witnessed this enchantment became followers of the God of Columba, including King Brude. The people and their King chose to weave the new symbol and faith as it complemented all that was good and true within the beauty of their old beliefs. The King and kingdom from that day forward had peace, abundance and an enduring power that made magic and miracles as natural as the air of the highlands and unending strength of the hills.

During a trip down Loch Ness, Saint Columba was told of a great sea monster who was causing the fear of death or damage to those trying to carve a living from the land and loch. Saint Columba was told that a man had been bitten by the sea monster and had died from his wound. After attending his burial, Columba was told that another man was in the lake and was in danger of succumbing to the same fate. The Saint went to the loch and demanded that the creature change his evil ways and no longer seek humans for sport, as he was causing them to die. The monster hearing the voice of the saint and feeling remorse for his deeds, never again harmed another daughter of Eve or son of Adam.

Alinda of the Loch - The Story of Sleeping Beauty's Daughter

Oonagh (my Scottish friend and 4th Grade teacher in the U.K.) and I (American/German Marketing professor) began writing the story of Sleeping Beauty's Daughter, Alinda approximately two years ago (2007). Since the time we began writing our story we have together spent seven long weekends traveling "across the point" to finish it. Unbelievably, as of one week ago today, we did indeed complete it. Currently, the finshed manuscript is in the process of being proofread and "cleaned up."

Additionally, we have been talking with professional and amateur graphic artists who (with great passion) have joined our team . They are going modifiy or use as (base illustrations) many of the images from the Archival Art (public domain graphics) library, Those that we ultimately select will complement the story that has been written with the goal of inspiring and lifing up the young and young-at-heart.