THE LAST SHAMAN by best-selling author - Roland Yeomans

{Cover format courtesy of Wendy Tyler Ryan}



Hey, I can dream, can't I?

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside,

somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God.

Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be

and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature."

- Anne Frank

THE LAST SHAMAN is another novella submitted to Kindle for their Singles Division. Wish me luck there.

The time has come to listen to the echoes from our land...

the wisdom and teachings of the mountains, streams, and woods.

Their words are simple and their voices are soft. We have not heard them, because we have not taken the time to listen.

We have been too busy smothering them in crypts of concrete and steel.

Perhaps now is the time to open our ears and our hearts to the words of wisdom whispered on the last winds of this world

before the final sunset bleeds across the horizon.

Journey with the last Lakota shaman, Wolf Howl. The white govenments call him Drew August. Those who hunt him call him Death.

His is the power of the mind unleashed. His is the curse of seeing that the world is sailing into regions of space where different rules apply,

where different predators hunt, and the race of Man is heading towards that final conflict the Mayans predicted so long ago.

The last day of Man has dawned.

Watch as Wolf Howl turns to meet his human hunters. Shadow, the love of his life, returns to aid his hunters. Then, Mankind's death descends. Can he save Shadow before the world's time runs out?

Give it a try. It's only 99 cents. How cool is that?
***

STORIES FOR SENDAI_IT JUST SEEMED THE THING TO DO

Some good news ...

I received this email this afternoon :

Hi Roland,

We are very pleased to inform you that your story "It Just Seemed the Thing to Do"

has been accepted for the Stories for Sendai anthology!

The charity anthology will be released on June 30th.

In the meantime, it would be great if you could help spread the word;

remember, the more copies we sell, the more we can help Japan!

Thank you once again for your contribution!

Regards,
J.C. Martin
Co-Editor
http://jc-martin.com/fighterwriterhttp://jc-martin.com/fighterwriter/2011/03/charity-anthology-stories-for-sendai/

Think about the hurting in Japan when June 30th comes around. Roland

***

Romantic Friday GLITZ & GLAMOR_REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED WITH DIAMONDS

WE INTERRUPT THIS ROMANTIC MOMENT TO TELL YOU OF ANOTHER GOOD FRIEND :

RAQUEL BYRNES ... who has done a post on FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE and moi :

http://nitewriter6.blogspot.com/2011/05/french-quarter-nocturne-dark-urban.html

Denise Covey and Francine Howarth

have devised a Glitz & Glamor Romantic Challenge for us :

http://fridaynightwriters.blogspot.com/

My 399 word entry is again from LET THE WIND BLOW THROUGH YOU :

Luke Winters has spent his whole life straddling two worlds,

Lakota and White, belonging in neither.

The woman he has loved all his life has become the feared donna of the crime family which controls the state.

Join Luke as he enters a party where revenge is the main course :

The driver dropped me off, disappearing into the night. A disapproving waiter led me into a modest drawing room the size of Missouri.

Rubies and diamonds sparkled on ivory throats and wrists like drippings from the sea.

The low rumble of the music was muffled by the rise and fall of empty conversation and brittle laughter.

I looked at the ebb and tide of desire upon wealth, greed upon opportunity.

The social elite milling through the room seemed to be talking against a darkness that pressed in on them or fought to escape them.

I was caught up in a sense of unreality as if the world of sun, mountain, and desert had slipped out of reach somehow.

It wasn’t the first time. In fact I had lived most of my years in Boston in that twilight world.

My years. A long trail of disconnected moments that had failed to add up to a life. A deep voice suddenly sneered beside me.

“It is only the superficial qualities that entice. Man’s deeper nature always is rancid in some fashion. Isn’t that right, Dr. Winters? Oh, I forgot. You lost your license, didn’t you?”

I turned. Dr. Winwood, the city’s leading psychologist.

His block chin jutted out at me like a blunt instrument.

His smile was a mask, behind which his calculating mind peered out, weighing the blush here, the furtive glance there.

His smug face said he knew the bills in my mailbox and the sins of my past. He had too much free time.

“Still his success rate is higher than yours, Winwood.”

I turned to my left.

Victoria, elegant in a retro-Titanic gown that was suddenly all the rage, one arm tucked behind her back. As always the sight of her hit me like a physical blow.

Her body was as slim and slight as the branch of a birch. Her shoulders were the white of mountain peaks.

Her long, sparkling gown blazed under the bright lights as if spun from fresh-shed blood. And her face? Her face.

It was beautiful and terrible beyond any singing of it. I found myself holding my breath as I lost myself in her green eyes.

Most found those eyes frighteningly cold. But that was just a polished front to hide the fact that they’d lost their way a long time ago.

Perhaps my own eyes looked the same.
***

DONNA REVIEWS my RITES OF PASSAGE/BETTER IN BLACK AND WHITE?

WE INTERRUPT THIS POST TO BRING YOU THIS IMPORTANT MESSAGE :

My good friend, Donna Hole, has done an entire post reviewing my historical fantasy, RITES OF PASSAGE :

http://donnahole.blogspot.com/

Go visit and tell her what a great friend she is for doing this, will you?

NOW, BACK TO OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED POST :

There is a fascinating article on Flavorwire :

http://blog.moviefone.com/2011/05/25/modern-movies-better-in-black-and-white/?_r=true


Director Steven Soderbergh's believes that 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' is way better without color. When he wasn’t busy filming Haywire or talking about retiring, the director spent the last year watching some very good films and reading copious amounts of books/plays/short stories.

A couple fascinating take-aways from the list:

Soderbergh saw The Social Network 4 times before it hit theaters and watched Raiders of the Lost Ark in black and white 3 times in 6 days.

3D is the current craze, but could color in films have robbed us of certain films' beauty and mystery? What do you think?

***

LET'S KEEP GOING_20 YEARS LATER

*{Blogger is not allowing me to sign in, resulting in me not being able to comment on some of your blogs.

Are any of you having the same trouble? Blogger will not respond to my pleas. Big surprise there.}

What do actresses Holly Hunter, Frances McDormand, Jodie Foster, Michelle Pfeiffer, Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn have in common?

They were all considered for the roles of Thelma or Louise in the now classic film released 20 years ago this May.

Bruce Willis' notorious bomb "Hudson Hawk" actually out-earned it for third place. But the word of mouth on the movie was so strong that "Thelma" became a sleeper hit,

earning over $45 million in the U.S., about three times its budget.

And it was a critical favorite, earning six Oscar nominations and winning the award for Best Original Screenplay.

Geena Davis gives us some insights into how she and Sarandon were able to stay cool during the roadhouse scene.

“We asked the prop guy, ‘Do you have any real tequila? Because it’s easier to act if we taste alcohol,” she says.

“So we pounded back quite a few, and we’re laughing between takes and both feeling, We’re so drunk! This is great!”

"Thelma & Louise" is one of those rare films that didn't just bring people into a movie theater, but kept them talking after it was over.

Its story of average women who become fugitives sparked nationwide discussions about the changing nature of feminism in the new decade of the 1990s.

Mostly, though, the film sparked debate with its ending. Cornered by the police at the rim of the Grand Canyon, Thelma (Geena Davis) tells Louise (Susan Sarandon) "Let's not get caught; let's keep going."

Louise hits the gas, the women hold hands, and their 1966 Thunderbird convertible goes sailing off a cliff. The picture freezes with the car in midair and then fades to white.





It's an iconic moment, but it's not how the movie was originally going to end.

You don't actually see the car crash; it just drops out of sight. Afterwards, Hal (Harvey Keitel),

the sympathetic detective who has been chasing the pair, runs to the edge of the canyon and stares down. A helicopter swoops down into the ravine, and Hal turns back to rejoin the massive police force waiting there.

Director Ridley Scott provides commentary on why he changed the ending from what he shot.

He said that giving the final moment to Harvey Keitel's character instead of Thelma and Louise, "eclipsed what their decision was...

I wanted the ending to be on them."

He also thought it was important to hold on the car in the air, rather than watch it fall. He said, "I didn't want to bring [the ending] down. I wanted to go out on the high of the car, in control."

And now, you see how the ending of your tale can make or break its dramatic impact.

You see? I did have a writing reason to wax nostalgic about the 20 year anniversary of THELMA & LOUISE.
***

RACHEL'S and CALLY'S POWER OF TENSION BLOGFEST_THEATER OF BLOOD/LESSON OF PAIN

Rachel Morgan & Cally Jackson have a fascinating blogfest idea :
THE POWER OF TENSION :

http://www.rachel-morgan.com/2011/05/power-of-tension-blogfest.html

You have no more than 300 words to brew tension into your scene - jealousy, familial, danger, sexual or something even more primal.

My entry is from my YA urban fantasy, THE LEGEND OF VICTOR STANDISH, the whispered tale of the 13 year old street orphan who wanders into the dangerous world of my undead Texas Ranger, Sam McCord :

My 300 word entry comes from the chapter entitled : THEATER OF BLOOD/LESSON OF PAIN --

I slowly woke up. I hurt all over.

My head. My wrists. I looked up.

Crap.

I was hanging from my bleeding wrists, slowly swaying. A spotlight stabbed down upon me.

Applause.

I was hanging from handcuffs attached to chains from a stage's ceiling. I blinked my eyes to clear my throbbing head.

Hard footsteps to my left. Boots. As black as the Nazi S.S. uniform of the man heading towards me.

Seeing the man sent an ice pick stabbing into my chest.

Captain Sam had pointed this guy out to me. He'd warned me to stay away from this vampire with the strange stitching all around his neck.

Major Strasser.

He stopped a foot away. He ignored me. My feelings weren't hurt.

He turned to the slowly swaying people in the front row of the theater. I fought down a shiver.

They were swaying to the beat of my heart.

He smiled. "You are new to the Hunger. I will begin your orientation with a lesson on Blood Bags."

Their swaying got faster as my heart became a jackhammer. I was more scared than I had ever been. But I was Victor Standish.

"Can I skip class, Teach?”

He slashed my cheek with a riding crop. "Blood Bags are to be silent!"

"What about dirt bags?”

Again the riding crop. "Silence! The next slash will take out an eye."

I could take a hint. I shut up.

He turned to the new vampires.

"Blood Bags are slow."

He hit me in the cheek with the crop.

"Blood Bags are weak."

Again with the crop.

"Blood Bags are ...."

He swept down in the same arc. I ducked, snatching his crop from his hand with my teeth and spitting it out onto the stage.

"... unpredictable, Fritz."

Strasser roared in anger.
***

WOW! I'M THIS WEEK'S FEATURED ROMANTIC FRIDAY WRITER

Wow! Denise Covey and Francine Howarth have graciously given me the honor of :

"Featured Romantic Friday Writer of the Week."

http://fridaynightwriters.blogspot.com/

It was for my entry for the LOST theme, taken from my urban fantasy, FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE :

If you would like to read my entry go to their featured writer web page :


http://fridaynightwriters.blogspot.com/p/featured-writers.html

Better yet ... join in the fun and become a Friday Romantic Writer yourself. You never know who is dropping by.

And for those of you who liked NIKITA (whose Maggie Q could play Meilori in a movie) here is :