5 Fun Facts about March 21st

Zodiac

March 21^st is the 80^th day of the year (non-leap years) and that means there are only 279 days until Christmas (Okay, we didn’t really need to know that.) March 21^st is also the first day of the astreological sign Aries, which is ruled by Mars, the Roman god of war. According to Roman mythology, Mars was the second most important god after Jupiter. Mars fathered Rolulous and Remus, the twin dudes who founded Roma. Their mom was a Vestal Virgin called Rhea Silvia. The month of March is named for Mars.

Matthew Broderick was born on March 21st, 1962. He starred in the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. As well as being the adult voice of Simba in The Lion King trilogy, he’s won no less than two Tony Awards (yay Matthew!). One was for Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), the other for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1995). He’s married to Sarah Jessica Parker.

  

International Day of Forests

Who doesn’t love a good forest? You can hike in them, play hide and seek, picnic, take awesome photos. Today is International Day of Forests. The theme for 2017 is Forests and Energy.

Michael Dibdin (21^st March 1947-30^th March 2007) was a British author of crime fiction. He’s best know for his Aurelio Zen series, which was set in Italy, where Dibdin lived for four years. The first Aurelio Zen novel Ratking won the Golden Dagger in 1988. (Awesome achievement!)

Henry V. His father died on 20th March 1413, so Henry V's first full day as king was 21st March 1413. (He wasn't officially crowned until 9th April.) One of his greatest achievement was defeating the French at the Battle of Agincourt. In 1420 he married Catherine de Valois (daughter of French king Charles VI). They had one child, who became Henry VI, after Henry V’s death at the age of 36. Shakespeare wrote his imaginatively titled play Henry V sometime around 1599.

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Janni Nell is the author of the Allegra Fairweather paranormal investigator series. She is now working on the new Bolde and Baulsey paranormal mystery series. 

Book 2, Dead Lady Vanishing is available now from:

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Not Quite a New Release

It's been a long time between drinks, as they say, or in this case books. The first book in the Bolde and Baulsey paranormal mystery series, Dead Monk Walking, was released last year. Since then my family's had a few ups and downs. The ups included my son's business expanding rapidly. Yay! The downs were mostly about the dog's ongoing cruciate ligament problems. Hopefully, he's had the last operation. He's such a sweetie. He doesn't deserve all the crap he's been through.

Anyway, I finally completed the second Bolde and Baulsey book. Better late than never, right? It's called Dead Lady Vanishing and it'll be released in February 2017.

To celebrate the upcoming release, the first book in the series Dead Monk Walking is on special for 99c for a short time only. 

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Vacations are a bitch. Or maybe it’s just me.

I’m Natasha Bolde, and honestly I’m no one special. Okay, I’ve solved a few mysteries, but I’ve always worked with my best friend and mentor, Clover. She passed recently, and now I’m taking what should’ve been her trip of a lifetime to Cornwall, Britain. It’s just like Clover to choose a place chock-full of mysteries. Why is the amnesiac woman digging in the fields? Can the local psychic medium really contact the dead? And who exactly is the ghost hunter hunting?

I wish Clover was here to help me solve these mysteries, but since she’s not, the best way to honor her memory is to solve them on my own. I’m determined to find the answers. Even if it kills me.

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Favorite books of 2016.

Rather than looking back at the events of 2016, I thought it would be more fun to look at books. I read close to a hundred this year. Some were published in 2016, others a while ago. Here are some of my favorites. 

In the fantasy genre, the Blackthorn and Grim series by Juliet Marillier is awesome. Book 2, Tower of Thorns, was a big, beautiful fairy tale. Even better than book 1! I love first person point of view, and these books have multiple first person so I'm a happy camper. The characters of Blackthorn and Grim have such different voices, you always know exactly which of them is telling the tale. I'm so looking forward to reading book 3, Den of Wolves, which is currently on my e-reader. Right now I'm just enjoying the anticipation of reading it.

I just loved Tara Brown’s post-apocalyptic Born Trilogy. Breathtaking action and the best kickass heroine since Katniss. 

The Empress of Rome series by Kate Quinn has been around for a while, but I only started reading it this year. Mistress of Rome (the first book in the series) is a huge, gorgeous historical featuring a hot gladiator, a female slave, a crazy emperor and a host of Romans behaving badly—and nobody does bad behavior better than the Ancient Romans. I had a ball reading this and absolutely loved the romantic element.

I'm loving the Capt Lacey regency mysteries by Ashley Gardner. Capt Lacey is a lovely character--a man who is flawed yet fabulous, and awesome at solving mysteries. But he's not the only reason to enjoy this series. I have to confess, I have a soft spot for James Dennis. I know I shouldn't because he's a bad, bad boy, but there it is. This year I read book 11, The Alexandria Affair. I'm eagerly looking forward to book 12 in 2017.

So what books did you enjoy reading in 2016?

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Janni Nell writes the Bolde & Baulsey paranormal mystery series. Book 1 Dead Monk Walking available now.

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Book 2, Dead Lady Vanishing, coming Feb 2017.