Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

At the request of my mother (and the librarian at the retirement home), I have created a large-print edition of Death By Ice Cream , with more to follow if this one flies. In case others are thinking of doing the same, I thought I'd share what it took. Cover: In the best of all worlds, you'd probably do a new cover just for the LT book. Since I don't have the funds for that (the more so as I'm dubious about this making the money back), I opted to use my okay Photoshop skills to enlarge the regular cover. Why enlarge? Because to make a LT book work, you probably need to use a larger format, unless you are already at the 6x9" size. Even then you'll need a much wider spine--something I didn't adequately account for when doing this one (I decided it's good enough, though, and am not going to change it). For the next book, I will probably try taking the separate pieces and enlarging them individually to assemble a proportional cover according to the specs f

  Title: Lucky Broken Girl Author: Ruth Behar Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2017. 243 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Summary:   Based on the author's childhood in the 1960s, a young Cuban-Jewish immigrant girl is adjusting to her new life in New York City when her American dream is suddenly derailed. Ruthie Mizrahi and her family recently emigrated from Castro's Cuba to New York City. Just when she's finally beginning to gain confidence in her mastery of English and enjoying her reign as her neighborhood's hopscotch queen, a horrific car accident leaves her in a body cast and confined her to her bed for a long recovery. As Ruthie's world shrinks because of her inability to move, her powers of observation and her heart grow larger. She comes to understand how fragile life is, how vulnerable we all are as human beings, and how friends, neighbors, and the power of the arts can sweeten even the worst of times. My Review:  This was a lovely story, a

It's time for the April Fiction in 50 blog hop! I'm posting up early so that it's ready for you Sunday no matter what time zone you're in. What is #Fi50? In the words of founder Bruce Gargoyle, "Fiction in 50: think of it as the anti-NaNoWriMo experience!" Pack a beginning, middle and end of story into 50 words or less (bonus points for hitting exactly 50 words). The rules for participation are simple : 1. Create a piece of fictional writing in 50 words or less, ideally using the prompt as title or theme or inspiration. Bonus points for hitting 50 words exactly. That’s it!  But for those who wish to challenge themselves further, here’s an additional rule: 2. Post your piece of flash fiction on your blog or (for those poor blog-less souls) add it as a comment on the Ninja Librarian’s post for everyone to enjoy.  And for those thrill-seekers who really like to go the extra mile (ie: perfectionists): 3. Add the nifty little picture above to your post (credi

Running a little late today!  Do you have any idea how many photos you can shoot trying to catch the crashing surf at just the right moment? Editing the photos from our trip to Maui last month has been a challenge, to say the least. I'm still working on the crater, but today we'll drive the Hana Highway... in the rain (because it is a rain forest. Which has that word "rain" in the name for a reason). For those who missed it, the first part of our trip (a day spent biking around West Maui; did I mention that we don't go on vacation to lie on the beach?) is here . The drive to Hana (and actually on beyond to the coastal part of Haleakala National Park at Kipahulu) was meant to be a recovery day. We got an early start to beat most of the traffic. The narrow, sort-of-two-lane road to Hana has become a tourist destination, which is too bad, because the road would be perfect for biking if there were no cars! We knew starting out that the day would be wet, and while that

 First, some newsy bits. A huge thanks to all the bloggers who helped with the launch of Death By Adverb. It's really taking off, and I'm grateful! Second, I have just released a new Large Type version of Death By Ice Cream. This is perfect for your mom, or anyone with vision issues. If this one sells at all, I'll work my way through the rest of the books to create large type editions of each. If it doesn't sell, I may do it anyway :) Now for the day's post: I'm appearing today at the Tick Tock blog --please jump on over and take a look at what I have to say about some of the characters in my story!

Title: The Tuscan Child Author: Rhys Bowen Publisher: Lake Union Publishing, 2018. 352 pages. Source: Library Publisher's Summary:   In 1944, British bomber pilot Hugo Langley parachuted from his stricken plane into the verdant fields of German-occupied Tuscany. Badly wounded, he found refuge in a ruined monastery and in the arms of Sofia Bartoli. But the love that kindled between them was shaken by an irreversible betrayal. Nearly thirty years later, Hugo’s estranged daughter, Joanna, has returned home to the English countryside to arrange her father’s funeral. Among his personal effects is an unopened letter addressed to Sofia. In it is a startling revelation. Still dealing with the emotional wounds of her own personal trauma, Joanna embarks on a healing journey to Tuscany to understand her father’s history—and maybe come to understand herself as well. Joanna soon discovers that some would prefer the past be left undisturbed, but she has come too far to let go of her

It's next week! Get your post ready for the April Fiction in 50 blog hop! What is #Fi50? In the words of founder Bruce Gargoyle, "Fiction in 50: think of it as the anti-NaNoWriMo experience!" Pack a beginning, middle and end of story into 50 words or less (bonus points for hitting exactly 50 words). The rules for participation are simple : 1. Create a piece of fictional writing in 50 words or less, ideally using the prompt as title or theme or inspiration. That’s it!  But for those who wish to challenge themselves further, here’s an additional rule: 2. Post your piece of flash fiction on your blog or (for those poor blog-less souls) add it as a comment on the Ninja Librarian’s post for everyone to enjoy.  And for those thrill-seekers who really like to go the extra mile (ie: perfectionists): 3. Add the nifty little picture above to your post (credit for which goes entirely to ideflex over at acrossthebored.com ) or create your own Fi50 meme pic…. and  4. Link back t