Blog Archives

Current and Upcoming Ebook Specials

10/31/2018

Happy Halloween! I wanted to let you know about specials and sales on my ebook for now through January. Mark your calendar! You don’t want to miss adding these to your Kindle, as these are all Amazon exclusive sales.

Today is the final day that Resonance, my Halloween short read, will be free. It’s only 21 pages, to give yourself a treat today by getting it at https://www.amazon.com/Resonance-Sherri-Moorer-ebook/dp/B014GMBU1A U.K. friends can get it at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Resonance-Sherri-Moorer-ebook/dp/B014GMBU1A

The Earthside Trilogy (the full edition with Progenitor, Metamorphosis, and Emergence in one volume) will be free Thanksgiving week (November 19-23) at https://www.amazon.com/Earthside-Trilogy-Sherri-Moorer-ebook/dp/B079KWWQM6 U.K. friends can get it at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Earthside-Trilogy-Sherri-Moorer-ebook/dp/B079KWWQM6

Trigger, A The Earthside Trilogy Novel and my latest release, will be on $0.99 on the following dates:

November 26-28
December 17-19
January 16-18

You can pick it up for $1.00 off at https://www.amazon.com/Trigger-Earthside-Trilogy-Sherri-Moorer-ebook/dp/B07JP7HV83 . U.K. friends can get it at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Trigger-Earthside-Trilogy-Sherri-Moorer-ebook/dp/B07JP7HV83

Joy on the Journey: Walking With the Holy Spirit Every Day, will be free Christmas week (December 24-28) at https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Journey-Walking-Spirit-Every-ebook/dp/B077BF58H1 U.K. friends can get it at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joy-Journey-Walking-Spirit-Every-ebook/dp/B077BF58H1

The Tanger Falls Mystery Box Set (which includes Move and Obsidian) will be free New Year’s Week (December 31 – January 4) at https://www.amazon.com/Tanger-Falls-Mystery-Box-Set-ebook/dp/B06ZYKNJ34 U.K. friends can get it at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tanger-Falls-Mystery-Box-Set-ebook/dp/B06ZYKNJ34

You can check out this website for blurbs and links to my books with other vendors, or you can check my Amazon Author Page for the U.S. at https://www.amazon.com/Sherri-Fulmer-Moorer/e/B005G5DW9U or the U.K. at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherri-Fulmer-Moorer/e/B005G5DW9U/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1418521620&sr=8-1 . I often run Amazon specials, so these are good links to bookmark for future reference.

So mark your calendar if you want to load up your Kindle, or to gift to others this holiday season! Of course, I have reminder posts scheduled to announce all of these specials, but this is your ‘sneak peek’ heads up on these upcoming offers.

Thanks for your interest and support of my ebooks, and have a Happy Halloween and happy preparations for the Holiday Season 2018!

Bye!

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This Is Halloween

10/30/2018

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I’ve been told that my history of learning about the origins of Halloween is unique. When I was in the 5th grade, the gifted program I was in decided that we needed to learn that the entire world wasn’t Christian, and there are other belief systems out there. It was certainly a lesson we needed to learn, but their methods of teaching it might seem unconventional in this day and time.

They taught us this by teaching us about ghosts, witchcraft, and the occult. And that same year, some family friends went to Salem, Massachusetts and thought it would be fun to bring me back a devil’s trap. So now you know why I have/wear a devil’s trap and don’t think it’s weird at all. I’ve had one since I was 10. Sadly, I lost that one when we moved in 2008, but I did get another one online. Still, I hate I lost the original one I had.

Honestly, it was probably my most interesting time in school. While I was aware of some ghost stories, I found this strange “otherworldly” stuff to be fascinating. I even tried to recreate it by taking a comparative religion course in college as an elective, but that fell far short of my childhood education as they decided to venture to “safer” topics like Native American beliefs as their nature-based religion course. Perhaps that’s why I gravitated toward being a paranormal mystery/suspense writer. I’ve been in a scifi mode the past few years, but I do intend and hope to return to paranormal mystery in the future.

It’s also why I see Halloween as a fun holiday. While it might sound shocking to have 10 year olds study such things, they did make it fun and age appropriate (as age appropriate as you can get with this stuff, anyway). It wasn’t presented as fact, but rather as a history of the season to show the true origins of what we recognize and/or celebrate this time of year. That gave it an “aha” element because now we knew the origins of Halloween, and what contributed to it. It’s also good to know, good to respect in others who believe in it, but you don’t have to like or believe it. If only we had similar attitudes toward different opinions in this day and time!

Of course, it’s not exclusive knowledge in my 5th grade class anymore. We all know about the Festival of Samhain, the Celtic New Year, the supernatural, the paranormal, and all things otherworldly now. The Internet and television have made this common knowledge. But I must admit that it was fascinating to learn it “old school” and it’s one of many happy childhood memories.

I wonder if they’re still teaching this in that gifted program in our school district? That school closed in June, but surely the snazzy new school they moved to has room and staff to satisfy childhood curiosity on why we dress up and trick or treat for Halloween.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a fun, safe, and Happy Halloween, and a great rest of the week.

Bye!

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And Suddenly - It's Fall

10/24/2018

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I’m in a bit of shock after coming back from vacation last week. It’s not getting back to work, although the busyness of my day to day routine has been difficult to adjust to this week. (How did I manage with this much work and this many aggravations in day to day life? No wonder working people are always pissed off and cranky!) Rather, it’s the sudden onset of fall that has me in shock. Last week, I was lounging on a beach in 80+ weather in the Bahamas. This week, I’m dusting off my winter shoes, getting out socks, and pondering whether I need to grab that sweater or not on my way out of the door in the morning. As if a 6 a.m. alarm isn’t shocking enough, now I have the sudden onset of fall to adapt to as well.

It’s ok. I’ve made it through mid-week with only minimal anxiety attacks. Things are getting done, although it seems the ‘to do’ list keeps adding more items to it. Is this normal, or have things really picked up? People tell me a bit of both. We’re in the natural ‘winding down’ season of the year before the holiday rush. Wait, holidays? Is it almost that time too? Crap, Halloween is next week. Wait, that was a Halloween Themed Cruise I went on last week. And we go back on Standard Time a week from Sunday. There’s another shock coming, as if the shorter days haven’t been enough of a shock.

My point is that fall came suddenly to South Carolina, and I think my vacation made the shock worse. Two weeks ago, it was still summer and now suddenly – it’s fall. Two weeks ago, it was in the 70’s – 80’s. Friday, it will be in the 50’s. That, folks, is the climate in the south. Summer is here for six months and then suddenly – it’s gone. And didn’t even say goodbye. Although some peeps of warm days are possible through November.

You never know. All you know is that you don’t know. And isn’t that true of so many things in life?

One thing I do know is that finalization of Trigger is in progress. Look for that release soon.

That’s all today. I’m going to continue to recover from my post vacation/fall shock now. Have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

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Vacations vs. Staycations

10/21/2018

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As you saw on social media, Rick and I took a cruise to the Bahamas aboard the Disney Dream last Monday - Friday. It was definitely the best vacation we've ever taken! I see why people rave about taking cruises now, because it was a wonderful experience, and well worth a year's worth of planning to do. You can check out my pictures from the trip on Flickr.

I was reflecting on how this trip contrasted with our 4 days off before and during Hurricane Florence last month, which turned into an unintended 'staycation' for a lot of us in this area. That time off was also relaxing and enjoyable in different ways. In today's blog, I'd like to talk about the benefits and pitfalls of a vacation versus a staycation.

A vacation has the obvious benefit of taking you to new places, and physically removing you from the day to day grind of life. There's no housekeeping, chores, errands, or 'to do' list to deal with. It's a complete escape from reality, which we all need from time to time. Our cruise was nice because the staff on the Disney Dream completely pampered and spoiled us! That level of service will obviously vary depending on whether you take a big or smaller trip, but overall the fact is that you're away from home and other people are taking care of your needs (unless you're camping, where you take the responsibility for all of that as a 'home away from home.') Another advantage is seeing different places, and freedom in your routine to do what you want, when you want. There were some timetables and schedules on the cruise, as activities were held at certain times, but some things like shows had multiple time slots, so if you miss one then you can attend another. You get to have new experiences that you don't have every day, and it's refreshing.

There are three major downfalls of a vacation. The first is that vacations take a lot of planning. We booked this cruise a year ago, and had things throughout the year that we had to do to keep the scheduling on track. We had to turn in our passport and travel information in February, and schedule our excursions and do online booking in August. There were multiple times in the past year when we had to take action for planning on a vacation that was still months away. Another downfall (and reason why we booked a year in advance) is that travel is expensive. We did pay off the initial costs of the trip before we set sail, but of course there were other charges along the way as the week progressed. And, of course, we wanted souvenirs and a few of the 'extras' that were offered at costs. Then there was paying for gas to drive from Columbia to Port Canaveral. So there were costs before, costs during, and now costs after that we're paying. The third downfall (and biggest in my opinion) is packing. Packing is a nightmare. You're limited in the amount of luggage you can take which means you have to pack minimally, but that isn't as easy as it sounds. I was packing and repacking for a week before the trip, and I'm still finding that I have things tucked away that I forgot to unpack even today. Packing is my single biggest frustration with travel. You have everything in your home set up for maximum comfort and ease of access. Not so when you live out of bags. You have to figure out what you need and when you need it before the need arises. Not easy when you're in habits formed around the home.

Staycations are basically inverted from vacations. You don't have to deal with the hassles of scheduling, finances, or packing because you're at home and can do what you want, when you want. But you're at home, and not really getting away. So it's hard to resist the urge to clean up or do this or that thing you've been meaning to deal with for a few months now but haven't gotten around to. You tend to do a bit more work around the house when you have time for it. And while it's nice to sleep in your own bed, you tend to fall in the same old habits when you're off work, you just do it on a slightly different schedule. For example, when we were off for Hurricane Florence, the big thing I did was work on my writing and read. I do that every day anyway, but I had more time to do it during the day, so I watched TV at night. All stuff that would happen in a normal week, but on a bigger time frame. Which was nice to have.

I suppose the one advantage to both is no alarm clocks are involved. Most of the time.

Vacations are obviously going to be more rare due to time and financial restraints, so staycations are a good option in between to keep you balanced. And, of course, there's the middle ground of small day trips too. Rick and I have taken many day trips to Savannah, Charleston, and the mountains for a small 'getaway' without having to pay for accommodations or to find care for the birds.

So which is better? I suppose it depends on what you can do. But each are a good option to keep you in balance. We probably won't take a big vacation like this again for a while, but there are plenty of smaller vacations and 'staycations' that can give us a break at need, at least until the next big trip is possible.

That's all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Bye!

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Embracing Your Blessings

10/13/2018

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Of course, we also tend to be short sighted when it comes to seeing the good in our life. I'm listening to a course on The Science of Mindfulness, and one thing that struck me is when the professor said that a lot of people express regrets over not fully embracing the small blessings they have in everyday life. They take them for granted in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, until they aren't there anymore.

I learned this lesson the hard way in 2010, when my job moved to a new agency. I anticipated some things I would miss, like friends, the beautiful outdoor walking paths on the State House Grounds and USC campus, and Tuesday and Friday sub days in the canteen. What surprised me were the number of other small things I missed in the days and months that followed. It was small things, like the outdoor courtyard, or the way the afternoon sunlight filtered in that one hall window so perfectly just before I left for the day, or the smell of the restaurants starting their dinner cooking, or the racks of free local newspapers downstairs. I had anticipated missing the big things, and while I did miss them, I was also surprised by the small things I missed. It made me take a good look around when I started this job to become fully aware and embrace the blessings of where I am now. That's something I still do now. Just yesterday, I was thrilled at taking a walk through that beautiful office park on a cool fall morning during my break. I didn't have that kind of awareness 9 years ago, but I do now.

Too often, we focus on the "mountaintop experiences" and fail to notice the blessings along our path every day. It usually takes a shock like I had in 2010 to wake us up to take a look around and see that the small things have a tremendous power to make up the bigger picture of life. We gulp down that first cup of coffee in the morning, instead of enjoying it for 5 minutes before dashing out the door and sitting in traffic. We flip down the visor and start mentally planning what to make for dinner instead of noticing how the sun filters through the trees on the way home from work. We dig through the pile of mail before we say hello to our family when we get home. We rush through chores and errands so we can have one precious hour to sit behind the computer or in front of the TV to do what we want for a little while. We collapse into bed with no thought of the significance of our day.

One thing I'm glad Rick insists on when the weather is good is sitting on the porch with Zack and Bubbles to give them some fresh air and sunshine. It's also a great break for us to decompress from the day and just 'be' before moving on to workouts, laundry, tonight's TV shows, or whatever else is waiting. Our schedules fill up so fast that it takes intentional effort to take the time outs just to simply be in the moment and enjoy being alive. In fact, the biggest grip I have is that it seems like it's always time to do something in life. There's too much scheduling sometimes! Those moments when you take a 'time out' to just be part of the world simply turning are the ones that can open our eyes to the other blessings of everyday life.

No, you can't be on vacation or off the clock every day - but you can be 'off duty' in any single moment. Why not embrace more of those now? As I experienced, they can be gone in the blink of an eye. Take a look around and embrace those moments. It's amazing how they make all of life more meaningful.

That's all today. Take care, and have a great weekend and next week.

Bye!

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Are You a Mosaic or a Pinata?

10/10/2018

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Sermons at church the past few weeks have been on how we’re all broken people. That’s a truth I’m exploring as I writeConvergence, my follow up novel to The Earthside Trilogy (that I pray to publish next spring). No doubt, the loss of Chloe (my female sun conure) and situations with friends drifting away over the past few months have brought this to the forefront of issues I’m exploring in my writing. Life leaves none of us untouched. It’s the reality of living in a broken world. The question is how you deal with your brokenness. I recall thinking last Sunday that there are days when I feel like a mosaic, and days when I feel like a piñata. Some days, I’ve got my proverbial crap together and am making positive changes and progress. Others, I’m a disorganized, smashed mess lying all over the place.

We all have our ways of coping, but there is one problem that holds us back. As humans, we have a tendency to compare ourselves with others, and sometimes this means that we strive to quantify our experiences when that might not be valid. This is especially true when it comes to dealing with emotional experiences. If you need an example of this, just take a look around at the next funeral or memorial service you attend. Who does everybody flock to with their condolences? The closest living relative, of course. The bereaved wife, parent, or child will get the most time, the biggest hugs, and the most words of comfort. After that, it slides downhill. There’s a definite hierarchy over who ‘deserves’ condolences the most. Just look at the receiving line. People are lined up in a pecking order. Society applies this order because we only have a limited amount of energy, so we have to distribute it carefully. Nobody’s worried about the grandchild, the nephew, or the cousin from two states away because, after all, “it’s not as bad for them.”

Or is it? How do you know that the weeping wife wasn’t so frustrated by her husband’s lengthy illness that she’s secretly relieved that it’s over, and it’s the cousin stoically sitting in a middle pew, ignored except for a few random “who are you” inquiries, who’s really falling to pieces inside?

This is a simple example, but it makes the point. We have a tendency to try to quantify our emotional reactions, but the truth is that all things aren’t equal. Different things strike different people in different ways. It happens all the time. Rick came home on Monday frustrated, and when he told me I said “yea, that crap happens to me so often that I’ve learned to ignore it.” But two weeks ago I came home frustrated, and he told me that I need to let it go and stop frustrating myself. It’s all a matter of perspective. Heck, your own perspective can change. I realized that Rick was right in his assessment of my situation a few days later, and I actually saw benefits in the situation that I hadn’t recognized in my frustration over the initial emotional blow.

I think this is why we fear brokenness in ourselves and in others. We make ourselves miserable by trying to determine whether our (or others’) feelings and reactions are justified when measured against people around us instead of simply feeling what we feel and dealing with it directly. Of course, we can’t be all things to all people, and it takes some soul searching to understand what’s happening inside ourselves. We don’t truly know and understand all things, and we certainly can’t solve all problems. There will always be things we don’t know that color the situation in ways we don’t realize. But we can check our perspective and learn to handle things with the grace and discernment that the situation needs. We can pray for the knowledge to take action, offer words of advice or comfort, or to back off and let things go.

So before you seclude yourself; before you hide what pains you; before you comfort one person; before you tell another person to get their crap together; before you think ‘they have no right to be like that;’ before you pity someone; before you jump up and do something to numb the pain; before you offer unsolicited advice; before you give up; stop and remember that reality is no respecter of persons. You don’t have all of the answers, and you may or may not get them because the big picture is bigger than our ability to perceive reality. You have no idea how all things connect and work together for ultimate good, and sometimes pain is the only path there. Brokenness is part of the human experience, and nobody is exempt. The real question is how you feel and deal with it. Are you a mosaic or a piñata? That determines not only your life path, but how you help others on their life path as well.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great rest of the week.

Bye!

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Trigger Is Coming in November

10/4/2018

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This Heaven’s a lie.

Ayanna died and went to Heaven – or so she’s been told. She was working on advanced nanotechnology at her university job when a blast outside of her office building transports her to a utopian world, where her new job is to integrate advanced nanotech into the new world. There’s just one problem: Heaven shouldn’t need nanotech, and the more she finds, the more she sees that this Heaven may be a lie. When another new arrival discovers that the settlement isn’t stable, Ayanna and her team discover that things aren’t what they seem, and she wonders what on Earth brought them here.

Is this really life after death? Or is it something else?

I'm excited to announce that my next novel, Trigger, A The Earthside Trilogy Novel, will publish in November! The cover arrived today, and like the others, it's awesome. Here's hoping the novel is as well!

Today, I'd like to offer you a sneak peek at the Prologue and Chapter 1. Enjoy!

Prologue

Another failure.

Dr. Ayanna Gracern rubbed her eyes as she closed out the death certificate in the medical database. It was ridiculous. They were on the verge of the twenty second century, with advanced nanotechnology to heal the human body, and people still succumbed to death too soon.

It shouldn’t be this way.

But it was. Despite their technology, people died.

Ayanna sighed as she peered into the empty office across the hallway. That was the worst loss. He would have found a way. He was on the verge of solving the riddle to degenerative diseases and accidents, but that wasn’t to be. A lab fire took him during an experimental trial six months ago.

Has it already been six months?

She had been promoted to continue the task and still, she failed.

“Dr. Gracern,” a voice shocked her out of her revere. She looked up to see her new lab assistant standing in the doorway.

“Yes?”

“It’s seven thirty. Why are you still here?”

“I’m completing the autopsy report and death certificate in the National Medical Database.”

“You hired me to do that, remember?”

“Of course,” Ayanna rubbed her eyes again. “It’s been a long day. Is it really seven thirty?”

The woman nodded, her blonde ponytail bobbing. “You haven’t eaten dinner yet, have you?”

“No.”

“Go home. I’ll finish the reports in the morning.”

Ayanna tapped her computer into shutdown mode. “You’re right. This isn’t going anywhere.”

“I’ll see you later.” The woman disappeared down the hallway.

Ayanna pulled her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk and walked downstairs. She couldn’t remember her assistant’s name. Was she that tired, or had grief muddled her memory that badly?

Did I hire her?

She didn’t recall hiring an assistant, but it had chaotic in the lab since Dr. Tyner died. She had been pulled into so many meetings and consultations with the University to keep these nanotech experiments running that they melted together into long days and twisted details.

Ayanna entered the code to lock the building, set the alarm, and stepped into the humid evening. Great, it was raining, and she forgot her umbrella. Heck, she forgot to check the forecast. One more detail melting into oblivion.

A click behind her caused her to pause.

The door doesn’t click when it locks.

She peered over her shoulder and was shocked to see a figure standing in the shadow of the entryway to the building.

“I’m sorry, Ayanna,” a soft voice said.

The misty erupted into white fire.

Chapter 1

“She’s waking up.”

Soft light pressed against Ayanna’s eyelids. She slowly opened her eyes, taking in golden sunshine filtering through tall trees. The fragrance of earth and woods filled her nose.

“What happened?”

“Easy there,” two faces appeared over her. One was a man with dark hair and blue eyes; the other was a woman with blonde hair and green eyes.

Ayanna pushed herself up, surprised to find she was lying in leaves. “Where am I?”

“You’re home, Ayanna,” the man helped her sit up. “Don’t be alarmed. We’ve found that allowing people to wake up surrounded by nature helps them adapt to their environment better than waking in a laboratory.”

“Why would I be in a laboratory? The last thing I remember –“ Ayanna paused. “It was a misty winter night.” She looked around. “This is strange. Is it spring? Was there an accident? Have I been in a coma?”

The woman looked at her sympathetically. “I was confused when I woke up here, too. It’s shocking, but you’ll get used to it.”

“What’s going on? Where am I?”

“You like the woods, right?” the man said. “You often went on hiking trails in your spare time.”

“How do you know that?”

“You don’t remember me?”

Ayanna stared at the man. He seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place his name. It was the same with the woman. She shook her head.

“You’ll remember us,” the woman said.

“You never told me what’s going on,” Ayanna said. “Who are you? Where am I? What happened?”

The man smiled at her. “I’m Virgil Tyner. I was your mentor at the University of South Carolina. We were doing research on the nanotechnology.”

“I’m Cherilyn Foisy. I was your lab assistant,” the woman said.

Ayanna stared at them for a moment. “Dr. Tyner. You were my academic advisor while I worked on my doctoral thesis on nanotechnology. You hired me once I got my doctorate to continue nanotech experiments on late stage cancer and dementia patients.”

“That’s right.”

She looked at the woman, her stomach churning with anxiety. “You look familiar, but I don’t remember you.”

“We only knew each other for a couple of months.”

“Why?” She looked at Dr. Tyner. “Why do you talk about this in past tense?” She closed her eyes as fragments of memory swirled in her head.

The bodies in research chambers.

The cellular scans.

The aliens.

The machines.

The fire.

Ayanna’s eyes popped open. “There was an accident in August. You died. And then the whole world went crazy. Strange things happened with the nanotech.”

Virgil nodded slowly. “Yes, I died.”

“Then how are you here?”

Cherilyn took her hand. “There was an explosion when we left the lab.”

“What do you mean?”

Virgil put his arm around her. “We’re dead, Ayanna. Welcome to Paradise.”

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Current and Upcoming Ebook Specials

This Is Halloween

And Suddenly - It's Fall

Vacations vs. Staycations

Embracing Your Blessings

Are You a Mosaic or a Pinata?

Trigger Is Coming in November

Escape Reality

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