UPDATE: The winner is…Linda Rhoden!
*~*~*

For those who read this blog often, you know I love movies. I also cyber-stalk celebrities whose work I love. I was thinking about Julian Sands yesterday. You know him. The actor who disappeared while hiking in some California mountains and whose body was found recently. Such a lovely-looking man, and what a voice! So, on a whim, I bought the movie Warlock, which I hadn’t seen since the 90s and settled in to watch. Yes, the special effects were awful in comparison to what can be done today, but I really enjoyed his performance and that of his true-life friend, Richard Grant. (I follow Richard Grant’s Instagram because he’s been so open about grieving the loss of his wife.)

I have another Julian Sands’ movie, Arachnophobia, on my list to watch this week as well because I want to honor him in my small way for the hours of enjoyment he provided me, personally. Arachnophobia is one I watch maybe every five years, and it holds up well.

When I was thinking about a topic for today’s word search, I thought about those two nostalgic titles and realized they have one-word titles, then I looked through my extensive DVD collection for others I own, and now you have a list of movies I love so much I had to have a physical copy of them in the puzzle below.

Today’s challenge for you for the chance to win a $5 Amazon GC is to add a one-word movie title to my list! 

I know some of y’all have been waiting for Cold Hard Cash to show up in some other venues. I’ve taken the book out of KU, and it’s available at all the usual outlets now. Just thought I’d let you know. 🙂

The wealthiest man in Dead Horse, MT, decides it’s time to acquire a wife and gives his eminently efficient personal assistant the task of finding the perfect candidate…

UPDATE: The winner is…Eileen McCall!
*~*~*

Saturday will be National Dog Day! Woohoo! We love our furry friends, don’t we? I’m sharing a picture of one of our EIGHT dogs above. She’s Judy the Sheltie. The picture was taken last winter when we got some very rare snow.

So, here’s what we’re going to do to celebrate this special day….

Send a picture of your dog (or your mom’s, or kids’) to me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com. I’m going to re-post them on Saturday, so you can share the love. If you like, tell me their name and, if you want, a little bit about them (you don’t have to!). I’ll post it all. If you send me a photo, leave a comment below to let me know to be on the lookout. One dog-lover will get a $5 Amazon gift card.

I own several tarot and spiritual decks of cards. Most of them I don’t know well enough to read without referring a lot to the books accompanying them. I know it’s a matter of familiarization, of using them, and committing to memory the meanings of the images. The Mythic Tarot deck is my oldest, and the book’s spine needs to be re-glued. It appeals to me most because I’ve always loved mythology, especially Greek, Sumerian, Norse, and Egyptian. I know the Greek stories better than any other mythologies because of my 3rd-grade teacher.

Our reading books were progressive pamphlets that you worked at mastering one volume at a time. I flew through them weeks before the rest of the class finished. She had a personal copy of Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes on her desk and would hand it to me when the others began their daily work with the readers. The stories were written for adults, in adult language, so I kept a dictionary at hand, which I didn’t refer to all that much as I read.

Tarot and divination have always fascinated me. I have dabbled with it over the years. I don’t believe or disbelieve, but I do think the cards help me reveal my own mind and inclinations. So, enough about why I love my Sunday “drawing the card” ritual. Let’s get to today’s card…

Before I open the book, I know this is Jason of “Jason and the Argonauts” fame—you know, the guy who stole the Golden Fleece. Jason’s story is really cool. He was the son of King Aeson, but he was stillborn, so his father sent him to Chiron the Centaur to be raised. (It doesn’t have to make sense. 🙂 ) Anyways, when Jason reached adulthood, he returned to his kingdon, but his uncle had usurped the throne from his father and didn’t want Jason around causing problems. So, he sent him on an impossible mission—to steal the Golden Fleece from another king.

Jason didn’t argue. He accepted the mission then gathered friends to accompany him on his journey. Here in the picture, you see the twins, the guy in the lion skin, Orpheus with his instrument, and another king friendlier to his cause. They are carrying torches (the wands) and are celebrating the fact that his ship, the Argo, has been completed. He’s ready to begin his journey.

What does the card mean to me? He’s accomplished a lot, gathered his support, built the vehicle he needs to continue. This moment is one to celebrate. So, I’ve completed a set of edits, and am deep into two other sets of edits, plus I’m a third of the way through my next book. It’s time to pause today to celebrate my accomplishments, but also to get ready to plunge back into the “mission.”

Now, I’ll check the book: The four of Wands “augurs a time of reward for efforts made. A creative idea has yielded early fruit, and the individual has every right to celebrate…” Woot, so I will. Today only.

Open Contests

1. Flashback: Strokes, Vol. 2 (Contest–Two Winners!) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book—two winners!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: What’s he doing here? — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Story Cubes: Tell me a story… (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Meet Carleen Crossley from HARD KNOX! (Contest & Snippet) — Win a FREE book!
5. Hollywood Heartthrobs (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. Saturday Puzzle-Contest–What is happening here? — Win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Deb Brown!
*~*~*

Today, I searched for an image for the puzzle on my favorite photo site by just typing in the word “romance.” This odd photo popped up in the top row, and I thought how fun would it be for you all to tell me what you think is happening here.

So, solve the puzzle and tell me what’s goin’ on for a chance to win a $5 Amazon GC!

UPDATE: The winner is…Debra Guyette!
*~*~*

My thirst for hunky heroes goes waaaayyyy back. I am of a certain (*cough*) age, so my tastes were formed by what I watched mostly on TV or saw in magazines when I was still a kid. I didn’t understand my fascination, but that didn’t stop my fantasy life being filled with hot starship captains and spies who rode to the rescue to aid me (never save me, because even then I liked fighting, too!).

The hero who first filled my fantasies was Russian secret agent Illya Kuryakin from The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1964 to 1968), played by David McCallum. You might know him as “Ducky” in NCIS these days. He was my one and only blond heartthrob.

Then a sci-fi show caught my attention—Lost in Space (1965 to 1968). But it wasn’t the young, single Don West who caught my eye, it was the sexy dad, John Robinson, played by Guy Williams, that I imagined was the single one and an in need of a little alien companionship. I imagined myself as the green alien woman who pursued Dr. Smith, only I captured John Robinson.

 

Both of those heroes paled in comparison to my next obsession—James T. Kirk from the original Star Trek (1966 to 1969). He was…everything. Handsome, in charge, witty, funny—and that smirk! And again, they’re in space—the final frontier! To this day, I love the character, and yes, Chris Pine inhabits it very, very well.

I had brief crushes on some other hotties from the time.

Have you ever seen the old WWII flick, The Great Escape (1963)?

Yes, Steve McQueen was hot. Motorcycles are hotter. Blah-blah. But it wasn’t McQueen’s “Cooler King” that caught my eye. It was Charles Bronson’s “Tunnel King” I was riveted to. Am I right?

This guy, even though back then I wasn’t allowed to watch his movies for some reason, was all over the magazines. I thought he was pretty damn hot, too.

I guess I’ve always like smolder. 🙂

These days, I’m enamored with another starship captain—Captain Pike, as played by Anson Mount in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. He’s funny, sexy, a great cook, empathetic, and brave. If you haven’t watched the series, or haven’t loved Star Trek before, he might change your mind.

So, my question to you is who were your earliest heartthrobs? Answer for a chance to win an Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Steph!
*~*~*

On September 12th, the next book in my new We Are Dead Horse, MT, series, Hard Knox, releases! So, I thought it was time for you to meet my main characters. I’ve included a snippet below for you! In the opening, we’re treated to a bit of Carleen Crossley’s mindset. She’s a woman on a mission to capture the one man she can’t have: Knox Ramsey. Carleen has no inhibitions or shame when it comes to her pursuit, much to the town’s enjoyment.

If you’ve read the books in the Montana Bounty Hunters: Dead Horse, MT, you’ve seen Carleen in some of the later stories in the series. Plus, she appears in Book #1 of the new series, Cold Hard Cash. Let’s just say, Carleen knows how to make an impression.

Meet Carleen…

Knox Ramsey was a man most folks in Dead Horse, Montana, shied away from. His tall, burly frame was imposing enough. Add the dark eyebrows that seemed perpetually lowered over his nearly black, piercing eyes and his huge, meaty fists, and he made most folks shiver with dread whenever his gaze swung their way.

However, Carleen Crossley wasn’t “most folks.” When she looked at Knox, she shivered the same as anyone, but for a very different reason. To her, Knox was The One.

She’d known it since she was a teenager, working after school to earn money for her cheerleading outfits. Knox hadn’t been the one to hire her—his mother, Dorothea Ramsey, had for no other reason than to annoy her son. Plus, she’d placed Carleen in the front office, doing little tasks that didn’t really need doing in a rough and tumble place like the Ride or Die Body and Repair Shop—like filing (who needed paperwork unless you wanted the grease-grimed fingerprints for a forensics audit), janitorial work (again, years’ worth of engine oil and grease couldn’t be wiped away with a little or a lot of degreasers), and making coffee (she had never mastered making the sludge Knox thought of as an actual beverage).

Even when she’d been sixteen, she’d recognized his appeal by the way her ovaries cramped in his presence. As she’d grown older, she’d noted other “proof,” like how her nipples beaded hard and her cheeks and groin got hot just being in his presence. She could feel him the moment he came into her vicinity. The air hummed with electricity. Her sex gave her warning, too, instantly softening and getting wet. When she turned and met that black gaze, her heart would stutter and then pound. Whatever she was doing, whatever thought was flitting through her mind, ground to a halt as she took him in. Looking at him was like downing a shot of whiskey—bracing and exhilarating.

Knox, with his deadly glare and biker’s windswept hair, was a bad boy through and through. And she had a mighty thirst for the biggest, baddest boy in Dead Horse, Montana.

Too bad the man didn’t feel the same way about her. After years of flaunting her body and seeking ways to slide up against him to tempt him, he still managed to deflect her affections.

Not that Carleen was ready to give up…

*~*~*

If you haven’t already pre-ordered your copy—here’s the link: Hard Knox

Contest

For a chance to win your choice of story in the Montana Bounty Hunters series or a copy of Cold Hard Cash, let me know if you’ve read any of the stories, and if you have, which was your favorite?