The Road to Reoovery...

"...the report of my demise was greatly exaggerated..." Mark Twain

I disappeared in April like Alice falling down the rabbit hole, but I promise, it was not due to anything overly tragic. The plain simple truth is... I haven't been able to type since then. In January I hit my "funny" bone (stupid name!) and trapped my ulna nerve. It took the docs a long time to figure this out (stupid doctors!) during which time my right hand stopped working properly (stupid hand!). Anyway, long story short, I went into surgery four weeks ago and I have the Frankenstein scars to prove it. I'll be in recovery and physical therapy for 6-8 weeks, but already I've got my hand back and am very happy (nice hand!).

I've missed writing terribly, although I did buy the Dragon Naturally Speaking while I was sick and it seems to work very well. I'm looking forward to using it to help keep my limbs happy. I never, never, ever want that to happen again.

While I was out, my DS and DIL had my third grandson, Celilo Augustus Freeland. He is the most precious darling ever! Welcome to the world little fella.

So I'll slowly get back to everyone I've missed so much... thanks so much for your patience and concern. I'll see you in the ether! Minnette :o)

The Nine Levels of Hell - Phantom Hearts

Been working on Phantom Hearts and reading Dante's Inferno, (the first part of Dante Alighieri's epic poem, The Divine Comedy), where he visits the nine levels of Hell (the 14th century version). The nine levels are: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery.  My heroine travels to Hell and visits a rather updated, ironic version of the rings, which should be a blast to write! So far I've worked out three of the nine, so lots of work to do yet. I thought it might be fun to talk about each level as I move through writing my book. So here is week one's...

RING ONE: LIMBO

This is the place where everyone who is not baptized goes to spend eternity. The grass is green, the place is pleasant, and there is a castle with seven gates represented the seven virtues. (That's a lot of gates!) All the wise men of antiquity live in the castle, of course, including Virgil (Dante's guide), Homer, Horace, Hippocrates, and even Julius Caesar. In other words all virtuous non-Christians. I'm wondering if he wandered the world today who he would meet in purgatory...

During his visit to limbo, he meets Minos, a creature that deals out the fate of those who are descending down to the other eight levels of hell. Minos takes the shape of a giant serpent (of course) and delivers his verdict by wrapping his coils around his body the corresponding number of time to the level of Hell.

WINNERS OF STARSIGHT FLASH BLOG TOUR!

Sorry about the delay in picking winners for last week's flash blog hop for Starsight... I put in so much overtime this week I can't see straight! Anyway, I'm proud to announce the two winners of the 1st and 2nd grand prizes...

$100 Gift Certificate from Amazon: JEAN PAQUIN
Autographed copies of Starsight I & II: YAMI NEKO

Congratulations, ladies! I'm sending goodies packages to everyone else who entered... just send your name and address to mmeador@minnettemeador.com and I'll one out to you!

www.minnettemeadorbooks.com