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Posts tagged ‘Literature’

PURE TRASH (Historical Fiction) by Bette A. Stevens #FREE eBook through July 1, 2017


PURE TRASH (Historical Fiction) by Bette A. Stevens

#FREE eBook June 27 through July 1, 2017
Grab a copy of this must-read prequel to the author’s novel DOG BONE SOUP today at Your Amazon http://amzn.to/1T5tMAZ today!

From the Reviews

5gold-star3

Pure Trash—A Nostalgic Gem!

“A nostalgic gem – I was swept away from the first paragraph and thoroughly enjoyed this skillfully written short story. This author knows how to paint mind-pictures and flavour them with taste, smell, and sound.” ~WJ Scott, Children’s Author, Fairy Dust.

A Compelling Story

“Having read Dog Bone Soup from which this short story was drawn, I figured it would be a review of what I already read. I must say it was, but to a greater degree, this short story caused me to focus on the message. Two boys, Shawn and Willie, were children of dirt-poor parents. The story covers the day that the boys are going to take their bikes to town, trade in some bottles, and enjoy some candy. In short, a day free of worry and care. Unfortunately, this was not meant to be. A small accident causes the boys to have to face the reality of prejudice that will no doubt haunt them their entire lives.

“The author tells this story with the realism that causes the reader believe they are witnessing the action personally. One’s heart goes out to the boys and their mother for having to endure ridicule and shame only because they were born into poverty.

“I recommend this short story to anyone who wants to preview Dog Bone Soup. It is well worth the time.” ~John Howell, author

Book summary

PURE TRASH (Historical Fiction/Ages 10-adult) In this short story adventure set in New England in the 1950s, two young boys set out on a Saturday adventure you won’t want to miss! Experience the joy of a carefree Saturday and the blistering pain of feeling not quite good enough as you hop on a bike and ride into town with two delightful young boys who find adventure at every turn. Shawn and Willie Daniels live in the woods with no indoor water or plumbing. Dad spends most of his hard-earned money on beer. Prejudice, class division, alcoholism, poverty, injustice, and bullying are cleverly woven into this 1950s adventure short. PURE TRASH is the short story prequel to DOG BONE SOUP, Stevens’s début novel DOG BONE SOUP.

About the author

Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of monarch butterflies—an endangered species (and for milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).

Stevens is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource  incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her début novel, DOG BONE SOUP—coming-of-age story and family drama set in 1950s and 60s New England.

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Category:

#IndieBooksBeSeen, Books, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literature, Maine Author, My Books, PURE TRASH by Bette A. Stevens, Rave Reviews Book Club, RWISA Author, Short Stories

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The Countdown’s On—DOG BONE SOUP by Bette A. Stevens ONLY 99¢ through November 28


“Stevens’ skill with dialect also makes this book unique. She doesn’t overdo it, but lets it flow like spring water or rain in the forest.“

Dog Bone Soup by Bette A. Stevens is available for only 99¢ beginning on Black Friday (November 25th) through Cyber Monday (November 28th).  This 1950s and 60s coming-of-age novel (ages 11-adult) has been likened to Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn by more than one reviewer. You’ll find one of those reviews below.

Grab a copy…or two…or more of Dog Bone Soup while the Countdown’s on at YOUR AMAZON http://bit.ly/1HGpCsZ. You’ll be glad you did!

dbs-a-remarkable-taleThe Finer Spirit

“This is a wonderfully engaging and thought-provoking story. Bette Stevens’ young boy growing up in poverty in 1960s America, reminds me of another child, adrift on a raft on a mighty river, and the issues illuminated by that author of social stigma, individual resilience, and integrity. Huckleberry Finn is also poor and an outsider, and yet becomes a symbol for the equality of all humanity, and the finer spirit in all of us, in Mark Twain’s hands. I felt a similar quality in Stevens’ distinctive book.

“Stevens’ skill with dialect also makes this book unique. She doesn’t overdo it, but lets it flow like spring water or rain in the forest. Her descriptions take you into the scene and the characters’ minds. I felt I was in the family’s cabin, fishing by the river, riding a bike into town, being bullied and ostracized, and ashamed of a parent’s bad behavior. This book is a rare treat. I highly recommend it.” ~ Mary Clark, author

About the author

Inspired by nature and human nature, author Bette A. Stevens is a retired elementary and middle school teacher, a wife, mother of two and grandmother of five. Stevens lives in Central Maine with her husband on their 37-acre farmstead where she enjoys reading, writing, gardening, walking and reveling in the beauty of nature. She advocates for children and families, for childhood literacy and for the conservation of Monarch butterflies—an endangered species (and for milkweed, the only plant that monarch caterpillars will eat).

Stevens is the author of AMAZING MATILDA, an award-winning picture book; The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too!, a home/school resource  incorporating hands-on math and writing; and PURE TRASH, the short story prequel to her début novel, DOG BONE SOUP, a Boomer’s coming-of-age story set in 1950s and 60s New England.

[Explore Bette’s Blog]

 

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Written

on 11/25/2016

Aside

1295. A writer lives, at best, in a state of astonishment. Beneah any feeling he has of the good or evil of the world lies a deeper one of wonder at it all. ~William Sansom


Enjoying the wonder of it all! ~ Bette A. Stevens, Maine author http://www.4writersandreaders.com

Sacred Touches

How can I stand on the ground
every day and not feel its power?
How can I live my life stepping on
this stuff and not wonder at it?
~William Bryant Logan

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The many gardens of the world,
of literature and poetry,
of painting and music,
of religion and architecture,
all make the point as clear as possible:
The soul cannot thrive in the absence of a garden.
~Thomas Moore

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A garden is like the self.
It has so many layers
and winding paths,
real or imagined, that it
can never be known, completely,
even by the most intimate of friends.
~Anne Raver

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The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. ~Psalm 65:8  ✝

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Written

on 11/12/2016

Aside

25 Interesting Facts about American Literature


Featured Image -- 6474American Literature, Books, Classics, English Literature, Facts, Famous Authors, Literature, Writers. ENJOY! ~ Bette A. Stevens 4writersandreaders.com

Interesting Literature

Interesting trivia about American writers and their work

As it’s Independence Day, how about some facts about the great and the good from American literature, from Edgar Allan Poe to Toni Morrison? What follows is a compilation of our 25 favourite facts about American authors and their writing.

Edgar Allan Poe’s prose-poem Eureka predicts the Big Bang theory by some eighty years.

Marlon Brando was a huge fan of Toni Morrison; he would often call her up and read passages of her own novels which he particularly enjoyed.

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Written

on 07/04/2016

THE NOT-SO-HALCYON DAYS OF YORE – PURE TRASH, BETTE A. STEVENS


An insightful review of PURE TRASH by Marilyn Armstrong, author of The 12-Foot Teepee. ~ Bette A. Stevens

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SERENDIPITY: SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH

There are so many television shows and movies, not to mention sappy posts on Facebook and other social media sites about “the good old days” … kind of makes me a trifle queasy. As someone who grew up in those good old days, I can attest to their not being all that great. There were good things about them, but it was by no means all roses.

Good is a relative term, after all. If you were white, Christian and middle class … preferably male and not (for example) a woman with professional ambitions … the world was something resembling your oyster. A family could live on one salary. If you were “regular folk” and didn’t stand out in any particular way, life could be gentle and sweet.

The thing is, an awful lot of people aren’t and weren’t people who could blend in. If you were poor, anything but…

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Fiction, Maine Author

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Windy Nights, poem by Robert Louis Stevenson


Poem perfect for a windy autumn night! ~ Bette A. Stevens

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Silver Birch Press

Image
WINDY NIGHTS
by Robert Louis Stevenson

Whenever the moon and stars are set,
            Whenever the wind is high,
All night long in the dark and wet,
            A man goes riding by.
Late in the night when the fires are out,
Why does he gallop and gallop about?
 
Whenever the trees are crying aloud,
            And ships are tossed at sea,
By, on the highway, low and loud,
            By at the gallop goes he.
By at the gallop he goes, and then
By he comes back at the gallop again. 

PAINTING: “Windy Night” by Marilyn Jacobson, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Prints available at fineartamerica.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A fascinating project about Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) is currently in the works — a film about his life in San Francisco, with a screenplay by G.E. Gallas. Find out more at gegallas.wordpress.com.

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ART, Poetry

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Rhapsody on a Windy Night, poem by T.S. Eliot


Love T.S. Eliot. Just right for a windy night… Bette A. Stevens

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Silver Birch Press

Image
RHAPSODY ON A WINDY NIGHT (Excerpt)
by T.S. Eliot

Twelve o’clock.
Along the reaches of the street
Held in a lunar synthesis,
Whispering lunar incantations
Dissolve the floors of memory
And all its clear relations,
Its divisions and precisions.
Every street lamp that I pass
Beats like a fatalistic drum,
And through the spaces of the dark
Midnight shakes the memory
As a madman shakes a dead geranium…
***
Editor’s Note: “As a madman shakes a dead geranium” — what a stunning line! T.S. Eliot never ceases to amaze…

Read “Rhapsody on a Windy Night” in its entirety at poets.org.

Painting by Mike Grubb, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Find more of the artist’s work at fineartamerica.com.

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ART, Poetry

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Clouds and Seasons


Simply sensational pictures, beautifully captured in Ivon Prefontaine’s poetry!

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Teacher as Transformer

Kathy’s niece took these pictures of boomers the other night west of Edmonton. Kathy and I talked about what we saw in the clouds. There is a lot in there and yesterday, as I walked, I understood clouds meaning something different during different seasons of life.

The spring of childhood,

Clouds were homes

Where

My imagined friends

Came to life

Nursery rhymes, fairy tale, cartoons

People lived there.

A voice called: “Hurry home before it rains.”

Spring met summer

Romance arrived

A single rain drop touched us

We scrambled

Holding hands

We discovered shelter

In each other

And laughed: “Let it rain.”

The dog days of summer arrived

I looked up

Storm clouds overhead

Ominous

Please, I need to finish the lawn

Or there goes the BBQ tonight

I hear my voice: “Hurry home before it rains; so much to do.”

In autumn

A safe distance

We view

But, don’t…

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Photography, Poetry

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The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too! | Book Club Reading List


 

English: tangram

English: tangram (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

 

The Tangram Zoo and Word Puzzles Too! | Book Club Reading List.

 

 

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Book Press release, Children's Literature, Maine Author

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October Morning (poem by Bette A. Stevens)


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On nature walks, I often take a small pad and pencil and jot down word picture nuggets for my poems. ~Bette A. Stevens

October Morning

by Bette A. Stevens

North winds whisk the clouds away

Towering  trees in fall array

Purples, golds an firy reds

All throughout Maine’s forests spread

Brook’s a place where minnows play

Dart past leaves that drift and sway

Bluejays chat, expounding tales

Of summer past and coming gales

Starched white towers climb the sky

Reminding all that autumn’s nigh

 

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Written

on 09/22/2012

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