46,000 Pageviews!

Dear Gentle Readers,

I am pleased and thrilled to announce Vision and Verse, the Place for Art and Authors, has surpassed the 46,000 Pageview Milestone.

I see those numbers looking back at me, but it is very hard for me to comprehend.  When Texas collage artist Parker Kaufman and Ohio author Carol Kauffman (me) were kicking around an idea for a blog that would be informative and showcase the artists and authors, both the old and the new, that just screamed inspiration and creativity, we wanted a simple white page with text down the middle.  One column.  Crisp and clean.  We wanted our blog to be about inspiration and creativity.

The experts told us it would never fly.  Today's sophisticated online viewer wants three columns, wants color, wants an intricate looking page.  We had none of that.  We wanted none of that.  We did it our own way.

And here we sit at 46,000 pageviews.  A big heartfelt thank you to all of you who stop by on a daily basis to see what's happening here.  Without you, I am entertaining myself.

We are kicking around ideas for a much-anticipated 50,000 Pageview Celebration sometime this year.  So far, we know we will have giveaways with ebooks and paperbacks, and an Amazon gift card.  If there's something you'd like to see, let me know. 

Vision and Verse readers are the best!  Have a great day.
Hugs,
Carol

A Vision of Fire by Gillian Anderson

Review from Amazon.com:

"Actress Anderson of X-Files fame makes her fiction debut with this gripping, well-written thriller, coauthored with genre veteran Rovin (Vespers).... Fans of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child will find a lot to like." (Publishers Weekly)

"A real page turner!" (New York Live)

“This is basically the dream of nerds everywhere.” (Flavorwire)

“[W]e’re quivering with anticipation for Gillian Anderson’s debut science fiction novel.” (Tor.com)

“Gillian Anderson delighted us for years as the skeptical Agent Scully on The X-Files, and now she wants to return to the genre that made her famous, this time as an author.” (io9.com)

“Gillian Anderson is returning to the genre that made her a cultural icon.” (Entertainment Weekly)

"Famed as X-Files Special Agent Dana Scully, Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner Anderson helps launch the publisher's cutting-edge imprint Simon 451 with the transcendent story of a Manhattan psychiatrist investigating inexplicable behavior by children worldwide that could spell real trouble.... A lot of tension…the mystical elements are further out there than any X-Files episode." (Library Journal)

"Anderson and co-author Jeff Rovin, an established novelist and ghostwriter, have crafted a book that takes a measured approach to the supernatural and wears its sombre apocalyptic mood like a stylish cashmere overcoat." (Financial Times)

"[A] slick, fast-paced page-turner replete with nuclear threat, occult cabals and an epidemic of apocalyptic visions suffered by children worldwide." (The Guardian)

About the Author from Amazon.com:

Gillian Anderson is an award-winning film, television, and theatre actress whose credits include the roles of Special Agent Dana Scully in the long-running and critically acclaimed drama series, The X-Files, ill-fated socialite Lily Bart in The House of Mirth, and Lady Dedlock in the BBC production of Charles Dickens’s Bleak House. She is currently playing the role of Dr. Bedelia Du Maurier in Hannibal and is a costar on the television thriller, Crisis. She currently lives in the UK with her daughter and two sons.

Jeff Rovin is the author of more than 100 books, fiction and nonfiction, both under his own name, under various pseudonyms, or as a ghostwriter, including numerous New York Times bestsellers. He has written over a dozen Op-Center novels for the late Tom Clancy. Rovin has also written for television and has had numerous celebrity interviews published in magazines under his byline. He is a member of the Author’s Guild, the Science Fiction Writers of America, and the Horror Writers of America, among others.

Dear Gentle Readers,

While browsing at one of our local libraries, I was thrilled to find a sci-fi book by Gillian Anderson. Being an X Files fan, I scooped it up and have just begun reading it.

So far, a child of a diplomat is having nasty nightmares and violent visions and is sent to see a famed New York child psychiatrist Caitlin O'Hare.  Soon Caitlin discovers it is not this ONE child of a diplomat  who is having problems, but a few.  As she tries to understand these events, she realizes these incidents are connected.

it is a well-written, fast paced story with enough science, sci-fi, religion, and reality to make an X Files episode.  AND it's supposed to be a series.  Woohoo!

I love Gillian Anderson.  She is talented and beautiful and I always imagined her as medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta if Patricia Cornwell ever decided to make her wonderful books into movies.

Have a great day, 

Hugs,

Carol

The Artist Erica Hopper

The beautiful work of artist Erica Hopper first caught my eye on her Facebook Page.  She captures an illusive human quality in her paintings without ever showing a face.  








She uses muted tones as well as bright red and blue and the basic human figures to convey beautiful imagery. 

This one is entitled "Italian Marbles."
I love the flashy, daring, red dress and its contrast to the figure's hunched over,
depressed shoulders.  I do not see the marbles.  Maybe she lost them.

 I love Second Thoughts.  I love the way Erica uses colors and the posture of the figure to convey the human being equivalent of Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory." (The limp clock one.) 

You have to look closely at this one to see the red boots in Erica's new giclee on canvas "Red Boots Daughter."
Erica is represented by Blazing Editions.
www.blazing.com 

None of these images are mine.  I claim nothing but my thoughts this morning!  I found all my information on the internet.  The Piccadilly's Fine Art Galleries website has many beautiful Erica Hopper works of art for sale.  

Also, check out he Facebook Page!

https://www.facebook.com/ArtistEricaHopper

Excerpt from Lord of Blakeley by Carol Ann Kauffman

In Lord of Blakeley, the peaceful farming community of Blakeley is attacked, and Andrew, as the Lord of the Province, led his men in defending their land and people.  Andrew did not return.

Excerpt:

“Lady Aleese, it’s Carmine.  Come out.”

“Where is Drew?”

“Lady Aleese?  Please, come out,” he begged.  “I need to talk to you.  It’s about Andrew.  He… he’s been…”

She unlocked the door and looked at him.  She saw the look on his sad tear-stained face.  He didn’t have to say another word.  She knew.

“NO!  NO!” she cried, falling on the floor.  “NO!  Do not tell me he is dead!  NO!”

“I’m so sorry, Lady Aleese.  He died saving all of us, our land, our crops, and our food.  Oh, he was so incredibly brave, My Lady!  He was majestic, even.  He managed to blow them all up.  Unfortunately he was in the middle of that explosion.”

“NO!”  She pulled herself up.  “I feel in my heart that my beloved Drew is not dead.”

“I saw it with my own eyes.  I saw him… get blown up.”

“No.  It cannot be.  Go away, Carmine.  I wish to be alone.”

“I understand you want to be alone.  But, please, let me help you up to your room.  Your ladies can take care of you upstairs.  You don’t want to stay down here in this cold, dark cellar by yourself.”

“Drew told me to stay here and wait for him to come and get me.  And I’m staying right here.  I’m waiting for him to come and get me.  Go away.”

“But Lady Aleese…”

“GO THE HELL AWAY!!!”  She threw a wine bottle at him.  It crashed to the floor and broke into pieces.

Carmine nodded and backed away from her.  She slumped back against the wall, slowly sinking to the floor, screaming and sobbing. 

“Come for me, Drew!  Please, My Love, come for me.  I don’t want to go on without you.  You told me to stay here and wait until you came for me.  I’ll wait for you, Drew.  I’ll wait right here.  Come for me, My Love.  Please, come for me.”  She cried some more and soon cried herself to asleep on the cold, damp cellar floor.

She heard something, someone walking on the broken glass from the wine bottle on the floor.  A shadowy figure approached her.

“Drew?  Drew, My Darling, I knew you would come for me. I knew you wouldn’t desert me.  Drew!”  She reached for him.  The shadowy figure reached out and grabbed her tightly.  The light caught a silvery glint from his wristband.  They both disappeared.

Buy Link:

http://www.amazon.com/LORD-BLAKELEY-Time-After-ebook/dp/B00DXF1710/ref=la_B0076OMJY8_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422285974&sr=1-7

A New review of Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life

***** Echo's of This Mothers Heart. January 20, 2015

By Crystal Miles Gauthier

Format:Kindle Edition

This book broke my heart and healed it all in one sitting. I suggest that all mothers share this book with their daughters and visa versa. It is a story of a young mothers struggle to leave a legacy of knowledge and some tasty ideas. I truly loved this book and will share with my daughters and grandaughters. I hope that eveyone will take the advice of this loving mother. Carol Ann Kauffman truly captures the human spirit in this loving tribute to women everywhere.

Dear Gentle Readers,

I woke up to this beautiful review of Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life and I was thrilled and delighted.  Echo is available in both kindle version and paperback at Amazon.com at

http://www.amazon.com/Echo-Heartbreak-Recipe-Carol-Kauffman-ebook/dp/B00ES2H0BS/ref=la_B0076OMJY8_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1422279000&sr=1-1

I will be giving away a few copies of Echo of Heartbreak, A Recipe for Life, as well as Lord of Blakeley, in both kindle versions and paperbacks for our 50,000 Pageview Celebration.  More details to follow.

Have a great week. 
Hugs,
Carol