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This is a review of Invasive Species by Steven Streeter I'm doing this review for
because for some reason, despite my frequent ads for this amazing activity, many of you haven't joined yet.  Anyway, Invasive Species  is written by our very own Steven (PLEASE BUY MY BOOKS!)   !  I found his book on Audible and geniunely enjoyed it. It's rated 4.8 stars on Audible and 4.3 on Amazon. It's currently available for free if you have Kindle Unlimited. The Kindle version is ranked #77 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction eBooks, #197 in Alien Invasion Science Fiction, and #666 in Horror (Kindle Store)--if that's not a horrifying number.  QUICK! EVERYONE BUY A COPY SO HE CAN BE RANKED 665!!!  Anyway, the paperback version is 342 pages and the Audible version is 9 hrs and 58 mins and it's narrated by Creig P. Sherburne. A snake catcher in rural Australia is spending more time with an old high school classmate and they are both discovering something strange and deadly on their snake calls. No longer are the snakes they are finding simply the deadly brown snake well-known in Australia. This new invasive species isn't just deadly, but it's a whole new animal and it's smart and terrifying, able to kill a human faster than they can finish a scream. Oh, and there's 11 of them out there, growing bigger and stronger and more deadly every day! This horror novel didn't keep me up at night, but that's good, IMO. I need my beauty rest. But it did creep me out and would certainly make me force someone else to take out the trash after dark for a while. It also shares some insights into life in rural Australia, which I enjoyed...though now I'm worried about visiting Australia again and running into the very real brown snake. I'm glad I didn't know much about them when I lived there as a kid. But Australia seems to be a country where half the animals are trying to kill you. This invasive species is no exception. I recommend this book for those who want to read about rural Australia, who enjoy snakes or enjoy being scared of snakes or who simply want to read a great book written by a real WdC author, Steven (PLEASE BUY MY BOOKS!) ! |
Steven (PLEASE BUY MY BOOKS!) is looking to find out if people enjoy his novella he wrote in the 1980's. That's it. No need to review it or anything. It's short--only 55k words. He just wants to know if you like it. It's set in Australia, so that already makes it interesting in my book. 
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| One more reason to get on the Community Newsfeed...trinkets! I've probably gathered 4 in the last 2 weeks. They're all wonderful, but this one is especially meaningful to me. Even if you didn't know eyestar~*, check out her trinket Lornda made. It's a beauty! "Note: Happy Monday! A Trinket is available in remem..." To get on the Community Newsfeed, go to your Personal Newsfeed, the default when you click Newsfeed. Then, along the top of your Personal Newsfeed, click "View the Community Newsfeed" to see what everyone's posting, not just your tiny corner of WdC.  |
| Additional. Here's a recent discovery I made when I was wandering through the account settings. If you go to My Account -> Account Settings -> Site Display Options then you can chose the community feed to be the link whenever you click on the WRITING.COM logo that's present at the top left of each page. |
Step Right up and Win a Prize!
In this round of quick and easy contests, just 1 entry keeps you in the running for the 12 consecutive months. However, if you want a MB sooner, enter 10-13 of the contests below and you'll earn a Community Merit Badge! Enter all 14 and you'll get an Exclusive Merit Badge!    ![Merit Badge in 1-Month Contest Challenge
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Congratulations on your new merit badge! Thank you for supporting the Writing.Com community with your inspirations, participation and activities. We sincerely appreciate it! -SMs](https://images.Writing.Com/imgs/writing.com/writers/badges/group-1=45Month_Contest_Challenge-2236401_13.gif)   When you enter the contest as usual, just return to "The Contest Challenge" forum and post proof that you entered the contest with {post:XXXXXXX}. Easy as can be!
Everything is open and waiting on you to enter!   |
Who Wants This Exclusive MB? Participate in this round of
Just enter each contest below by the end of the month. They are all quick and easy contests. You can do this! 10 entries gets you a community MB, in case you can't get all 14.
Simply post an entry in the contest, as usual. Then post proof you entered by going to "The Contest Challenge" forum and posting a link to your contest entry forum post with {post:#######}. Easy as cake!  |
The post of "The Forum of Micro-Monologue Contest" and "The Forum Micro-Articles Contest" has been updated@ Spring in my Sox  . |
| Thank you, Dr Rupali Goswami! I'm running 4 of your contests this month. Will all 4 be updated soon? Or should I remove the other 2? |
Review of A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett This is a review for
Join "Rach's Reading Club" ! MBs and GPs are a fabulous reward for just reading and reviewing 2 books that fit certain criteria. This one is for the category of Books Written Over 100 Years Ago.This link to A Little Princess isn't the exact one I listened to. For some reason, I couldn't find that one on Amazon, though Amazon owns Audible and that's where I listened to it. Anyway, it's good enough. A Little Princess, first published in 1905, is believed to be inspired by Charlotte Brontë’s unfinished novel, Emma (not to be confused with the same name novel by Jane Austen). It's about a girl, Sara Crewe, whose father brings her from India to London to put her in a boarding school. She's adored there by the head mistress, if for no other reason, than because she makes the school look good and she's rich. But then her father makes an investment in diamond mines, his partner abandons him, and he dies, leaving poor Sara penniless. The head mistress keeps her on, working her half to death and paying her next to nothing while starving her, as she treats the scullery maid as well. The story is about Sara's riches-to-rags-to-riches experiences and her creative imagination and generous heart that get her through the difficult times she must endure. The audiobook is rated 4.8 stars on Audible and the version I listened to is 6 hrs and 41 mins. and read by Johanna Ward. The linked book (because I couldn't find the exact one) is rated 4.6 stars on Amazon. The Kindle version is 247 pages and free through the Kindle Unlimited program. The book has been turned into award winning plays, musicals, and movies and is sometimes seen under the title The Little Princess. There were several similarities between this book and her book, The Secret Garden, to include a child moving from India to England and being an orphan as well as a depressed old man and a kid who has a way with animals. But A Little Princess had a more satisfying ending, IMO. Both ended happily, but I felt The Secret Garden ended more abruptly. |
Have you played
It's a simple, yet complex game.  You simply write 1 sentence to continue the story...but there's a set of rules to follow. Each person who writes a sentence also adds a rule we have to follow. The kind ones add rules like "Ignore rule #..." or "The next sentence (or next 3 sentences) have to..." The cruel folks make up rules like "Underline all the adverbs." What the heck, people? I only know the ones that end in -ly and apparently not even those are always adverbs. Making me have to review grammar...   Anyway, it's pretty fun! Give it a try! But be sure to check the forum to ensure you're fully up-to-date on the story and rules because Jeremy 🏳️🌈 can't just sit around and stare at his forum to keep it 100% updated 24/7. Come play! |
I misread one of the rules recently. It said the third word must begin with an 'a'. Dumbo here misread that as every third word beginning with 'a'. I thought at the time that it was a bit restrictive! I was so pleased with myself when I managed it.  I guess that's a 0/10 for me for reading comprehension. At least it didn't break the chain. |
| That's a good rule, PB Curtis, though I'd only say the next sentence had to have the word jump in it. Go participate! It's a fun, challenging little adventure! Wow, Dave Ryan! I went back and read your sentence. I didn't even notice the A words every 3 words. You did a fantastic job of making it all fit so seamlessly! Great work! You're a pro at this! |
| Well, "continue and write" could mean from now on. Only the ones that say "The next sentence" are generally taken to mean only the next sentence. Obviously, you need practice with this. You should go do it. I want to see what happens to the characters. |
If you're looking for some new and exciting images to say 'Thank You, Anonymous,' Gaby ~ Simply Wicked 💋  created some for Nixie  and Nixie made them so that that anyone with an Upgraded or higher membership can use them! (Note: The Upgraded or higher membership is a WdC rule, not Nixie's. )  Special thanks to Nixie for changing all her new images to public use and for posting them in "Note: I was bored using the usual 'thank you anony..."!  Code = {image:2296614-75%} for This code contains -75% to create the image at 75% of the original size. You can't make an image larger than 100%, but you can make it smaller by putting the percentage of the regular size that you'd like the image, as I did above. To post the image at full size, the code would simply be {image:2296614} I always put a bit of extra space before and after the code to make it easier for you all to copy and paste. I do that with the code {s} which is that blank box in the buttons above, right next to the Font button.  {image:2296615-75%}  {image:2296616-75%} And you can always post in
as well, if you'd like.  Again, thank you for the new images, Gaby ~ Simply Wicked 💋 and Nixie! |
| They might have been created by me but Nixie bought them and decided to share them with the community. |
Thanks for gifting us with your ever-generous spirit, Nixie .    And thank you, Gaby ~ Simply Wicked 💋 for sharing your creative energy and love with the WdC community. You're my heroes! |
Review of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett This review is for
I read it for the category Books Written Over 100 Years Ago. It's not too late to join "Rach's Reading Club" ! Read and review 2 books in the same category to get a related MB and get GPs for every review, even when you haven't read 2 books in that category! Skip around the categories as much as you like, working in any order. Choose the books YOU want to read for the categories she lists. Join! The Secret Garden (link is clickable to take you to the US Amazon page to buy the audiobook) was written in 1911, but is still listed as #205 in Fiction Classics for Children and #742 in Fantasy & Magic for Children by Amazon. The paperback version is still ranked #428 in Teen & Young Adult Classic Literature. Rated 4.6 stars on Amazon and 4.8 stars on Audible, it's easy to see why this classic is still so popular. The audiobook is 7 hrs. and 38 min. and the Kindle version is 419 pages. I recommend the audiobook because of the heavy use of accents in the book. Aside from probably being harder to read, the audiobook narrator (of the version I listened to), Carrie Hope Fletcher, did a nice job of portraying the different accents while still making the book accessible to the listener. This book is about a young girl, Mary, age 10, whose parents die and she's forced to live with her reclusive and distant uncle. She's spoiled and used to having her own way and is forced to learn to become more self-reliant. While doing so, she meets a boy, Dickon, who has quite the way with animals and she hears stories about her aunt, who passed away 10 years ago, and the secret garden she used to have, but after her death, the uncle had the garden locked and he buried the key. Mary goes in search of it and, with Dickon's help, she begins to bring the garden to life again. Sometimes Mary hears cries and is told that it's simply a servant with a toothache. One night, she investigates to discover a same-aged cousin living hidden in the house. He believes he's sick and on the verge of death, but Mary convinces him to come to the garden where he grows strong and finds a zest for life. |
| There wasn't room to add this, but the one thing I didn't care for was the ending that seemed a bit abrupt to me. Yes, she wrapped everything up and it all ended nicely, but I felt like the resolution, while it was lead up to well enough, when it happened, it was too short with no real ending, just a resolution. At least, that's how I felt, if that makes any sense. It was a good book and I'm glad I listened to it, but I can't say it's one of my all-time favorites. But I did enjoy it. |
It's Happening! It's Really Happening! For the past few years, I've just been so swamped with school, I haven't run a really good round of short/fast/easy contests for
By a "good" round, I mean enough contests that I can truly offer Do 10 of the contests below and earn a community MB. Do all 14 and earn the exclusive badge posted above. Every contest below is faster/shorter/easier than your typical contest, whether it's because the max length is shorter or because they allow previously written items. Check them out and see how many you can enter this month!
How many will you enter this month?!?   |
Okay, last time...for this round of MB begging, at least.  I'm paying 15k GPs (gift points, the WdC version of money) for a MB (merit badge) to help celebrate my 7 year WdC anniversary! If you want to participate, but don't know how to send me a MB, let me know. I'm happy to help! If you need an advance because you don't have the 10k it takes, I'm happy to help with that, too. But remember that if you haven't sent a MB in the last 30 days, the next one you send is free. You get a free MB every 30 days and I still send you 15k, regardless. |
Last Chance to Not Post a Late Entry for the May Round of
The 1st 2 could still use more entries, especially the 1st one.
|
If you like short contests, check out Dr Rupali Goswami's contests. Here's her announcement about getting her 100th entry for one of her contests. "Note: A Great News In May'2023, We, [Link..." |
Making sure you saw this opportunity to earn 5k-15k GPs. "Note: Yep, I'm at it Again--Grubbing for MBs. *^..." Spoiler Alert: It's me asking for MBs (with CRs, of course) for my 7th WdC Anniversary. I'm sending 15k per MB so you earn 5k if you paid for it and 15k if it's your free one for the month. |
Shadow Prowler   is running a cool activity in June. Get your BINGO cards now!
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You're probably right, Jeremy 🏳️🌈. Maybe it's all a part of his grand scheme. He has 179 review on Amazon, so he's definitely got some sales!