Category Archives: Free Writing

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho for free!

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The Alchemist for freeThe Alchemist for free

The Alchemist for free

My Heart Is Afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.”Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams.”

Every few decades a book is published that changes the lives of its readers forever. The Alchemist is such a book. With over a million and a half copies sold around the world, The Alchemist has already established itself as a modern classic, universally admired. Paulo Coelho’s charming fable, now available in English for the first time, will enchant and inspire an even wider audience of readers for generations to come.

The Alchemist is the magical story of Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who yearns to travel in search of a worldly treasure as extravagant as any ever found. From his home in Spain he journeys to the markets of Tangiers and across the Egyptian desert to a fateful encounter with the alchemist.

The story of the treasures Santiago finds along the way teaches us, as only a few stories have done, about the essential wisdom of listening to our hearts, learning to read the omens strewn along life’s path, and, above all, following our dreams.

Dear readers,

You can now browse the full edition of The Alchemist (courtesy of Harper Collins) on my blog: http://paulocoelhoblog.com/

Love, Paulo

Best-Selling Author Turns Piracy into Profit

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Paulo Coelho, author of books such as “The Alchemist” and “The Witch of Portobello”, sold over 100 million books last year. In part, he puts this success down to BitTorrent, as he saw a huge increase in sales when his books appeared on sites such as The Pirate Bay. We talked to Coelho to find out more about this remarkable story.

http://torrentfreak.com/best-selling-author-turns-piracy-into-profit-080512/

Indie Excellence Book Awards

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Dear friends,

I’m very proud to announce that my romantic suspense ‘Relocating Mia’ has been recognized with its second award.

Besides being named a Finalist at the 2007 USA Book News Best Book Awards “Relocating Mia” was also named a Finalist at the Indie Excellence Books Awards for 2008.

To find out more about my novel, or to order a signed copy visit my website www.rebeccalerwill.com

Thanks you so much for your kind interest,
Rebecca~

Review of "Farewell Alexandria"

Free Writing 
Playing One's Role on the World's Stage, April 10, 2008
By  Erika Borsos "pepper flower" (Gulf Coast of FL, USA)
Antor Caspardian is a famous man, a self-made businessman who has
rubbed elbows with world leaders. He is someone whose advice is
sought by heads of countries where political conflicts and wars have
arisen. He lived a full and complicated life and in this book
"Farewell Alexandria" we learn the details of his multifaceted
personality and the many events which culminated in his status as a
world businessman, a man who stepped upon the world stage and became
a major player. Yet, hidden within his life are secrets which only he
and those very close to him know. On a personal level, perhaps all
the fame and fortune he acquired can not cover up the pain and losses
he experienced to achieve success. He never married the one true love
of his life ... yet he had two children, a son and daughter by two
different women one of whom he loved on a very deep and personal
level. He learns he has children, when they are nearly adults. This
is the one major source of his personal pain, he can not reveal he is
their father due to their social situation and his own status. Later,
they *do* learn who their real father is which has consequences in
their lives that no one can anticipate.

The seeds for his major successes in life and his personal pain were
sown and grew in Alexandria, Egypt where he lived prior to World War
I. He is the son of immigrant parents, who came from Turkey to
achieve economic freedom. His father began as a carpenter and became
a furniture artisan, famous for the high quality of his creations. He
built up a thriving business. They are Catholic and Antor was sent to
a private Catholic school where he was a very gifted student. Rather
than pursue his studies in Italy on a scholarship, Antor became
apprenticed to an accountant. Antor realized money and social status
were related to power. Those who gained wealth became powerful and
were politically connected, respected. They led very different lives
than the majority of Alexandria's citizens. He wanted this for
himself. The drive to achieve success in business and gain respect
and power were his major ambitions in life. With his accounting
background, he examined which of the banks were well connected to the
business families of Alexandria, that is where he applied for a job
and was hired. Antor became accepted by the Wirsa family who did high
level business with his bank. He met their daughter and fell head
over heels in love with Marguerite. Antor sensed she felt the same.
Her parents tolerated his social visits but had higher social and
business connected ambitions for her marriage. He pursued his
interest in her but fate turned against him. Marguerite was taken to
Europe by her parents and quickly married to the man her parents
favored. Unknown to Antor, she carried his child, unknown to her
husband, the child was fathered by someone else ... The timing was so
close, it was easy to deceive them all.

Antor's business connections and relationships prospered within
Alexandria. He put aside his personal pain and applied his energies
to his work. He learned money is what counted and if you had enough,
the world can be yours. He met a woman who taught him about social
relations and how to cultivate the rich and famous. He learned even
more about the art of seduction and what women wanted from a man. As
time passed, some of his businesses failed, he turned to new avenues
of making money. His connections to the Italians and the Jewish
merchants vanished due to events which would erupt into World War II.
Even his associatons with the British Army took a turn for the worse.
Yet, he managed to maintain relations with the King of Egypt and his
business relations began to prosper again. He dealt in Egyptian
cotton and later scrap metal. He diverted funds to Swiss acounts. In
the mid-1950s he got in early on a deal with a pharmaceutical company
which went world wide. One of his rivals in this arena was a young
entrepeneur named George Cristofides, a banker and up and coming
world-wide businessman. The reader will appreciate the unexpected
twists and turns in this story about the business and personal
relations which arise due to this association. The story and plot are
epic in scope and contain deep caverns that are examined and in which
unexpected events take on new meaning as the author so cleverly ties
together the personal love life of Antor Caspardian with the world
business events that seem to rule his life. One day, he realizes that
blood is thicker than water. He comes to appreciate the family and
children he never knew existed ... which enter his life. This is a
complicated book which includes a vast amount of recent history as
its backdrop and which reveals a twisted tale of success on a world
scale with lessons which reveal the high price paid for acheiving
power and political influence. This is a most engaging novel with
excellent plots and twists which will keep the reader fully engaged
from start to finish. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]


Posted on behalf of Derek Flower

	

	
	

		
			



							


	

		
				

			"The Struggle, First Generation" – Introduction
		

		
		

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“The Struggle, First Generation”

-Introduction-

Author: Karen Palumbo


Have you ever stopped to wonder what life would be like as an immigrant in our generous country? Have you ever stopped to wonder what life would be like as a first generation immigrant in our generous country? I would just bet that you probably have not given too much thought to such a simple question.


Yet people from all over the world have been arriving in our country for many generations. They all arrive by airplane, boat, drive or walk, but arrive in our country just the same. For many of the immigrants, their arrival goes unnoticed.


Some have made the decision to arrive on our shores as young men and women. Some have made the decision to arrive on our shores as older men and women. However, the result is still the same because arrive on our shores they do.


There are so many new people and each of them comes from many different countries and dfrom all walks of life. People arrive with their own individual backgrounds. The stories they share of their love for their homeland.


When you take the time to listen to some of them reminisce, about how life was before they decided to arrive here, you can almost detect a twinge of sadness in their voices.


If you should dare have the audacity to ask how they came about making the decision to leave their country of origin you will sense an internal tug of war gently pulling them in two directions. They are thrilled and excited to be in our country. However, they dearly miss their country of origin.


Then there are the children who have not made the decision to come to our country on their own, but are the products of circumstance. Their parent or parents have thought long and hard and made the difficult decision for them simply because of their ages.


Can you even imagine the fear and disorientation that must overwhelm the majority? Can you imagine what it must be like to have just arrived in a foreign land and not be able to understand what anyone around you is saying?


You search for familiar surroundings, but you then begin to realize that this exercise is one of futility because you are no longer in your homeland. What do you do? What do you now look for? How will you ever survive?


The realization that you are alone now must be weighing heavily on your mind, your heart and soul. Were you thinking before you decided to take that leap of faith and endeavor to test your talents in a foreign land that you might just be biting off more than you could chew?


Are you frightened? Are you beginning to ask yourself if you have made the right decision? Are you wondering if you should try to go back to your original point of destination? It can and most of the time is, a very excruciating and painful period in your life.


You were certainly brave enough to endure the agonizing and sometimes frustrating first step, were you not? Now is not the appropriate time for self-doubt. You should tell yourself that to look back would not serve you well, so from here you must set your sights forward.


If you have given it some thought and you think that the struggle of day-to-day living is not complicated with so many issues, then please look again. For many it is the most frustrating time in their lives.


For others they are able to adapt to their new surroundings with relative ease. I would imagine that it just depends on where you are starting out.


Have you arrived in our country alone? Have you arrived in our country with a husband or wife? Have you arrived in our country with brothers and sisters? Have you arrived in our country with aunts, uncles and cousins? Have you arrived in our country with existing children? Okay, so where exactly do you go from here?


Do you attempt to communicate with people whom you do not know anything about? What happens if you are not able to communicate with anyone because you do not know the language?


Now that you have accomplished what many have done before you, where do you go from here? You already are aware that you cannot just continue to walk the streets from one town to the next. So exactly what is it that you endeavor to do from this point?


If you came here with other family members, how will you be able to provide for them? Where do you even begin to search to locate shelter? Where do you go to locate the necessary food for yourself and your family members?


As you can see, it can be an extremely overshelming experience to say the least. This is nothing short of a monumental task for anyone to handle. Now to be an immigrant in an unfamiliar land just has to be one of the most frightening experiences to endure.


As difficult a hardship this whole experience is on any adult, just imagine what it must be like to be a child. The children of immigrants are the ones that are placed in the precarious middle position, if you just take the time to think about it.


I would just imagine that at this point you are wondering what I am even talking about. Well,  just think about it. What do you suppose the children of these immigrants are thinking? Remember, they are just children.


Now they too are being forced due to circumstance. They must adjust to a place very unfamiliar. When they finally are allowed the privilege to attend school, do you think that they will wonder how and if they will fit in? Do you think that they will be shy and very quiet simply because they are not accustomed to speaking the new language that they are hearing?


While the adult immigrants are one set of issues to attend to and overcome, the children have another set of issues. Of course, that would depend upon whether or not they were born in their original homeland or here in our fine country.


For whatever reason, as time passes, the children become sandwiched in the middle. What I mean is that they inadvertently become the link between the life they were familiar with and the new life that they lead now. They do not necessarily ask to be placed in the middle, but that is where most end up.


This book will take this family on a journey from leaving their home in a distand land to arrive in America to begin a new life. The struggles they will endure along the way are what will keep this family together. It will give this family the strength to continue forward.


This family’s most difficult hurdle will be the language barrier. Their hopes and dreams are consumed with their children’s well being and future.


Let us all join with this family and follow them through their struggles. We will follow them through their successes and failures. We will follow them through their frustrations and pleasures. The love they have for each other. The love they have for their children.

	

	
	

		
			



							


	

		
				

			Quote from Book Two; Amber Shadows and the Crystal Locket
		

		
		

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Chapter One


(Illustration)


Alluring Danger       





M





onday morning every cauldron alarm clock in the Shadows’ household flashed twelve o’clock. The storm brewing since midnight whipped branches viciously against rooftops and power lines, sending several garbage cans rolling around yards and down the streets.


     Several feet away, on the border of Magian countryside and Downtown Magia, a rooted pinecone fir tree snapped in half and fell against the main power lines. Instantaneously power outage darkened every window and street lamp, as if a Dark Magic spell covered the Magians with a mysterious, velvety black cloak.


     As the town slept, a svelte silhouette cloaked in blackish-red, dragon hide lurked just outside the youngest Shadows’ bedroom window. Fingernails of various dragon designs carved into the paint-chipped siding, leaving deep gashes in its weathered wood. As the silhouette moved closer to gaze in through a narrow slit in the curtain panels, the wind sifted through her long, black locks. She stood motionless, watching Amber toss and turn as she called out incoherent names in her sleep.


     The woman’s lips curled in hatred as her fingers twiddled in a spherical motion, magically forcing the towel in the opening of Amber’s window to fall inward. Just as the woman was on the verge of vaporizing into a thin, serpent-shaped coil of vapors, the wind viciously shifted. She tilted her head backward to peruse the sky. The heavens stirred furiously, blanketing the entire neighborhood with threatening cloud formations. Thunder boomed magnificently throughout the inky-black sky as rain plopped here and there, and then suddenly, a crack of lighting struck the ground just inches away from where the woman stood, as if to warn her.


     Startled by her near death experience the woman transformed into a black and red snake, with a spiked dragon tail and glittering birthmark on its head. Lightning struck again nearly setting her tail on fire as she slithered back into the Wood at full speed, down into a bubbling hole leading to what those living in the Bewitched Forest would call, the Dark Magic Realm. 


     Rain continuously poured in sheets as lightning struck the earth near Amber’s room three times, waking her from what felt like a heart pounding nightmare. Above the Shadows house lightning cracked as it formed an angel outline, etching it into the clouds. With eyes open wide, yet not totally aware of her surroundings, Amber covered her head and slid underneath her bed, her breathing erratic. She’d never truly been afraid of lightning before, but it was so close above her part of the house she feared it was going to strike the roof and set the house on fire.


     Moments later all was silent and the rain stopped instantaneously. Amber peered out from under her bed and noticed a brilliant light beaming through the crack in the curtains. Curiosity overwhelmed her fears as she slowly crawled out from under her bed and stepped toward the window. Staring up into the seven heavens, her fears were replaced by peacefulness and her breathing suddenly shifted into normal, slow breaths. Amber couldn’t help but think that the angel resembled Jocelyn’s face (her late, great-great grandmother).


     It must be a warning, thought Amber. Something just happened . . . something Jocelyn wanted me to know about . . . . She looked out into the backyard and saw nothing except wet grass and swaying woods. Plops of rain began hitting her window pane again. Amber glanced upward hoping the angel would remain long enough for her to commune with her inner intuition, but the angel vanished before her eyes, leaving stormy billows in its place. 


     If something hasn’t already happened it’s about to, thought Amber. She sat down befuddled by the angel and its meaning; then suddenly remembered how she’d witnessed something horrifying in her dreams . . . something that may be linked to the etched angel in the clouds.


     Grasping at the covers, Amber struggled to see through the blackness engulfing her surroundings as she shivered from the unexplainable, cold draft invading the room. Being a bit preoccupied with the sign from heaven, she hadn’t thought to check and see if the towel was tucked in the hole of the window, and shivered for several moments before snapping out of her thoughts.


     Amber leaned over and twisted the light switch to her lamp twice but it would not turn on. She then gazed down and noticed the alarm clock flashing 12:00. Another power failure, she thought. Sighing, she pulled out a box of matches. As she struck the match, Amber noticed rain spattering on her bedside table and on the edge of the pillar candle. She pulled the candle towards the edge closest to her and got to her feet. Rubbing her arms for warmth, she headed toward the window to see if the towel was not properly tucked in the hole.


     That’s strange, thought Amber, where is the towel? She picked up the candle and looked on the floor to see if it had fallen out from the force of the wind. Nearly missing sight of it, Amber noticed something red sticking out from behind her bedside table. She pulled it out after some difficulty only to find it was an envelope with gold ribbon. Amber was about to open the envelope when the room temperature suddenly dropped. Although anxious to read its contents, she couldn’t handle the cold a moment longer. She set the candle down and searched for the towel.


     Amber managed to reach further behind her bedside table after a bit of difficulty and grabbed hold of what she thought was the towel, but when she looked at it, it was nothing more than a small square of singed material. Someone was here . . . trying to get in, thought Amber, someone using Dark Magic by the looks of it. After all this time, someone had finally attempted to cause her and possibly her family harm. She pulled out an old pair of sweats and was about to stuff them into the window, when a creaking noise from the hallway drew her attention to the bedroom door left slightly ajar.


     Amber swallowed hard. Perhaps it was her imagination working overtime, but the longer she stared at the door, the more her imagination tricked her into believing someone was slowly pushing their way into the room.


     She blew out the candle and slipped back in bed, pulling the covers up over her head. Grasping her crystal locket, she prayed that whoever it was would change their mind and go away. Lying still, she inhaled and exhaled long breaths, lip synching, “It’s only my imagination . . . it’s only my imagination . . . the house is just settling . . . yeah . . . yeah that’s it . . . that has to be it . . . it’s just settling . . .“


     After several moments had passed and it had become quite clear that no one had entered the room, Amber sat up and pulled the covers from her head. She wiped her forehead with her nightdress sleeve as she sat staring at the door thinking, I must have been hallucinating . . . the door hasn’t budged.


     In fact, as Amber looked around she couldn’t help noticing that everything was as still as can be. The only sounds breaking the silence of the room was the expansion and retraction of the heating pipes, the rain pattering against the window, and the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hallway just a few feet away from her bedroom door.


     Amber re-lit the candle and glanced around. The room appeared ominous, what with the antique dresser, rickety desk, and chair sitting idle in the flickering candlelight. The spindles at the foot of her bed cast silhouettes on the wall, stretching from halfway up the closet doors to the ceiling in an eerie fashion. 


     “My imagination should get an award for being overactive,” she muttered. As Amber sat staring into the surrounding darkness, it suddenly struck her why she was getting so freaked out. She remembered in vivid detail what woke her in the first place.


     Amber got to her feet and lifted her top mattress. Hidden away with the Legends, Spells, and Enchantment Book was the Emerald Wand of Chrysalis. With a few White Magic words she removed the shield protecting it and tip toed about the house, placing seven protection charms on every window and the front and back doors. There, that out to hold whoever it was out for a while, she thought. Amber was about to tuck into bed when she remembered the red envelope.


     She began ripping at the corners of the envelope, hoping to find a message from her late, great-great grandmother Jocelyn, but after several attempts of actually ripping it open and it resealing itself, she gave up. “Must be a protective spell . . .” Amber muttered in befuddlement.


     As tired as she was, her curiosity propelled her into thumbing through the Legends, Spells and Enchantment Book twice, but none of spells she tried worked and neither did any of the spells she recited while using the Emerald Wand of Chrysalis.


     “Must be some type of Dark Magic unknown to the book,” Amber said under her breath, thoroughly frustrated. She tucked the red envelope inside the book for safe keeping until she could figure out how to open it. Then she tucked the book back under her top mattress and placed the Emerald wand inside her pillow case, her grip firmly on its handle. She needed to salvage what few hours of sleep she had left. Soon, her family would be busying the hallway in their daily morning rush to ready themselves for a new day at school or work, without any knowledge of what happened during the night.


     Less than an hour later, Amber was still awake and staring out the window from where she lay. She could not block out the flashes of a deformed, half-dead figure, and several serpent guards with scaly blackish-green skin and feelers on top their heads chasing her in her nightmare, nor could she forget about the angel etched in the clouds and how much she reminded her of Jocelyn. And it certainly did not help to know the attempt of someone breaking into the house justified her reasons of worrying all summer. Now that something finally happened, Amber found herself more concerned about what she was going to do about it, and who, pray tell was it?


     It was at that precise moment something long lying at the foot of the bed in the shadows moved. Startled out of her thoughts, Amber huddled up in the upper corner of her bed; fearing it was a snake. Slowly she opened her eyes and outstretched her arm to pick up the candle and relight it. There at the foot of her bed in tousled blankets lay an undisturbed feline; stretched out, purring and pawing at the air, his wizards’ crest birthmark glistening in the darkness. Taking a deep breath, she lowered the candle and placed it back on the bedside table relieved to find she was over reacting.  “It was only Zappy stirring about . . . .”


     Having had enough of a sleepless night, Amber slipped into her robe and tucked the Emerald wand in her pocket. With the wand at her side, she figured she would be perfectly safe to catch a breath of fresh air while she wrote in her diary. She gathered her writing tools and steadied the candle in a firm grip as she softly tip-toed through the house, out the back door, and gently closed the screen door behind her. Settling on the back porch swing, she noticed the rain was now softer and steady. Amber released the invisibility charm and thumbed through her diary, counting the number of entries she had written. The entry she was about to pen would make the seventh entry to date.


*****


You simply must buy the first book to find out what happened! I refuse to spoil it for those who are still reading the first book or who have yet to purchase it. Until then, I’m sorry to say, this is only a teaser excerpt from Book Two in the Amber Shadows series.


Have a bewitching read.


*****


Wendy Willett

	

	
	

		
			



							


	

		
				

			Chicago Tribunes' Printers Row Festival
		

		
		

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USA Illinois SCBWI Chapter has contracted to host a space at the 2008 Printer’s Row Book Festival on Saturday, June 7th and Sunday, June 8th.  Wendy Willett, author and illustrator will be there for (2) one hour spots to meet, greet, sell, and sign her five-star rated book Amber Shadows and the Missing Wands, the first book in the series. Appearance times are 2-3pm and again at 4-5pm.  


As the largest literary festival in the Midwest, and one of the largest book celebrations in the country, the Printer’s Row Book Festival attracts more than 90,000 people, over 200 authors and 150 booksellers and exhibitors. Located between Congress, State and Clark streets in Chicago, the festival takes place just outside (as well as inside) the beautiful Harold Washington Library. A list of past speakers include: Dan Brown, Neil Gaiman, Jack Prelutsky, Elizabeth Berg, Julie Andrews, Nikki Giovanni, John Updike, E.L. Doctorow, Dave Eggers, Augusten Burroughs, Carol Higgins Clark, Jim Aylesworth… as well as many Illinois SCBWI authors. 


The thirty-two SCBWI-Illinois authors who sign up for this event will sit at the SCBWI-IL booth, under a tent (shade is important!) and have specified times each to promote and sell their books.


So come on out on June 8th, enjoy the days’ activities, buy a copy of Amber Shadows and the Missing Wands, meet author/illustrator Wendy Willett and get your book signed!