Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Panda of Death by Betty Webb

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Panda of Death by Betty Webb:   Reviewed by Jeanne Zookeeper Theodora “Teddy” Bentley has settled into her life with her new husband, Sheriff Joe Rejas, his two young...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Shady Hollow by Juneau Black

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Shady Hollow by Juneau Black: Reviewed by Jeanne Vera Vixen is the star reporter for the Shady Hollow Herald because this quick red fox has quite the nose for news.  ...

Mystery Fanfare: CALL FOR ARTICLES: ANIMALS IN MYSTERIES: AUTHOR ES...

Mystery Fanfare: CALL FOR ARTICLES: ANIMALS IN MYSTERIES: AUTHOR ES...: Call for Articles:   Mystery Readers Journal (39:3) ANIMALS in MYSTERIES   We're looking for articles, reviews, and Author essays  abou...

Trace Evidence: Janice Law on “The Fitz”

 Trace Evidence: Janice Law on “The Fitz”

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas: Reviewed by Abby The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez follows titular character Nestor as he tries to adjust to a new school and new sur...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Homes, A Goddess, Lady First, Biden, M...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Nevermore: Homes, A Goddess, Lady First, Biden, M...: Reported by Christy First up, we had Homes: A Refugee Story by Abu Bakr al Rabeeah with Winnie Yeung.   Homes tells the stor...

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Kittens Can Kill by Clea Simon

Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Kittens Can Kill by Clea Simon: Reviewed by Jeanne When animal behaviorist Pru Marlowe makes a house call, she expects to take a new kitten for a wellness check a...

Short Story Review: "Annie And The Grateful Dead" by Denise Dietz

Told from the perspective of a cat that prefers to be considered “feline” because he is house broken, this short story mixing humor and mystery is an enjoyable read. The cat----or feline---in question goes by “Grateful” as his full name is “Grateful Dead.” He is okay with the name though, if he had a choice, he would have gone with Elvis since his great grandmother lived at Graceland and there are other family connections. It’s a good life as his pet is Annie (his owner) and Grateful has a favorite female feline, “Fluffster” close by.

Annie isn’t happy much at all these days. In large part Grateful blames Annie’s boyfriend Robert Dumbrowski. They were high school sweethearts back in the day. In the here and now he is with a struggling band, calls himself Rocky Dove, and wants to be a rock star. When he isn’t around to boss Annie, he spends a lot of time out on the road doing whatever. Home or on the road he is not really around to help Annie who is a struggling artist with very little income. Also against him in the mind of our feline narrator is the fact that he doesn’t like felines. Grateful also does not much care for Annie’s mother and for good reason. But, Rocky Dove is the biggest problem in Annie’s life according to Grateful.

From the start, Rocky’s latest visit to town proves Grateful Dead’s point. The feline has quite a few other observations about life and more while also managing to solve a mystery in “Annie And The Grateful Dead: A Short Story.

Originally written as “a story to benefit the international fund for animal welfare” this is a fun read that blends some mystery, quite a lot of humor, and more into a quirky tale. It isn’t clear in the beginning where the story is headed, but once the ground work is laid for the mystery, the short story powers along quickly working things out. Well worth it, Annie And The Grateful Dead: A Short Story should be on your short story reading list.

Annie And The Grateful Dead: A Short Story

Denise Dietz

http://www.eclectics.com/denise/

Self-Published

October 2014

ASIN: B00P1J2KF8

E-Book

$0.99

Picked up this material during the author’s recent free read promotion to read and use in an objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Via Tapir and Friends Animal Store (Realistic Stuffed Animals and Plastic Animals): Plastic Monkeys

Tapir and Friends Animal Store (Realistic Stuffed Animals and Plastic Animals): Plastic Monkeys

Via Tapirgal's World: Adding Animals

 Update on some things that have been going on....

Tapirgal's World: Adding Animals: Drake Park, Bend, Oregon ~ February 7, 2009 Canada Goose Photo by Sheryl Todd Lee , Kevin , Amy , and I have all been working hard ...

Lucy and her Skull

Before Lucy was in the sky with diamonds, she was on the ground and had a skull. .... .http://store.tapirback.com/australopithecus-fossil-skull-plastic-replica-f3524/

Yes, I am weird with a wide and strange sense of humor. They let me write some things there anyway. Go to the site and put my name in the search box and you can find more of my efforts.

Doing The Freelance Writing Thing Again

It has been a very long time since I have done any editing or freelance writing. Mainly I have been doing the unpaid book review thing while shuttling Sandi to her appointments and trying to take care of things around here. Both are pretty much full time jobs on their own not to mention my own ongoing health issues.

But, Sandi has been pushing me to resume my own fiction writing as well as take on paid projects. Beyond the obvious financial need we have, she is concerned that I have basically put everything else on hold while she has fought the good fight. As if I was supposed to do anything else?

A small step forward back into freelancing was made over the weekend as there was a call on one of the many lists I am on for writers to develop short article content for the Tapir And Friends Animal Store.  The site is designed to raise money through store sales to support "The Tapir Preservation Fund." The fund is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of tapirs and their vanishing habitat. As noted under the "about us" section:

"Tapir and Friends Animal Store is a unique shopping destination online for interesting and exotic stuffed animals, animal figurines, key-chains, animal jewelry, clothing and more."

You can see examples of my recent work here  and also here. 

Hope you check out the site as well as my work.