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| Rosetta Stone in the British Museum bbc.co.uk |
Today's random fact: On this day in 1822, Jean-Francois Champollion announced that he deciphered the Rosetta Stone. It is a royal decree from King Ptolemy V in 196 BC. It includes three scripts - hieroglyphs, Demotic, and Greek. The three scripts enable modern scholars to decipher hieroglyphs.
Today's spotlight features an author who knows something about foreign languages - Shannon McKenna lives in Southern Italy. She is married to a sexy Italian who did not speak English when they first met as "cast members" of a Renaissance Faire. Check out this link for a real life romance story! Shannon celebrates the release of her new romantic suspense, BLOOD AND FIRE:
Bruno Ranieri has always lived at a chaotic pace, and that goes double lately. Since his uncle’s untimely demise, Bruno is working himself to the bone, trying to keep his nose clean and save the family business. Not easy when the nightmares that plagued his childhood are hi-jacking what little rest he gets.
So when exotically beautiful Lily Parr sashays into his all-night restaurant, claiming to be on the run from mysterious assassins, Bruno starts to wonder if sleep deprivation is finally getting to him. Especially when Lily implies that Bruno is involved. But the violence that accompanies her arrival is no illusion. Nor is the blisteringly hot, completely inconvenient desire that explodes between them.
Lily Parr has been a fugitive ever since her father’s death a month ago in a mental hospital. Officials claimed it was suicide, but Lily’s gut—and the savage murder attempt she barely escaped afterwards—say different. Snippets of information led Lily to Bruno’s door...and his magnetic charisma compelled her right into his bed. But there are cold-blooded killers on her heels, with resources as limitless as their cruelty.
Running won’t help, not when the biggest threat is the terrifying secret lurking in Bruno and Lily’s pasts. A secret their mysterious enemy will gladly destroy them to protect—unless they can uncover it first...
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| BLOOD AND FIRE is set in Portland, Oregon. Portland looking towards Mount Hood. searching4sincerity.blogspot.com |
Hmmm .... Ranieri sounds incredibly Italian! I am giving away a print copy of BLOOD AND FIRE to one randomly selected commenter. To enter the giveaway,
1. Leave a comment about ancient languages, Renaissance Faires, and/or Italian culture.
2. This giveaway is open to all readers.
3. Comments are open through Saturday, October 1, 10 pm in Hawaii. I'll post the winner on Sunday, October 2.
Mahalo,
Kim in Hawaii
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| Mount Vesuvius in Southern Italy - it brought blood and fire to Pompei. metrolic.com |
Happy Release Day to Shannon. I love her McCloud books and can't wait to read "Blood and Fire." I've never been to a Renaissance Faire, but would love to someday. I want to attend a joust show.
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a renaissance faire or to Italy. But I do like things that have to do with ancient languages. It always makes me laugh a little when people in our time are trying to decipher what people hundreds of years ago were trying to say. Frankly I think most of the time they just guess and get it wrong.
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to see the Rosetta Stone. It must be fascinating to study it and to try and understand what it is saying.
ReplyDeleteCongratz on your release Shannon ,Blood and Fire sounds awesome and totally stunning ! I have heard of a Renaissance Faire but I have honestly never had to opportunity to attend one it seems mystical and very interesting !
ReplyDeleteDesere
Although Shannon McKenna lives in Italy, her books have never been published in Italian. It is a pity, because Shannon is wonderful author, who has her own original style. Maybe it's because her books have quite a few explicit sex scenes that are not always welcome in Italy. Italians are not prudes (at least not all of them), but the proximity of the Vatican has a big influence on the selection of published books. Fortunately, some progress is noticeable and all thanks to the new publishers, who are more open-minded to new ideas and trends.
ReplyDeleteHappy Release Date Shannon! I love everything Italian, I've never seen a Renaissance Faire either. I love the McCloud Brothers!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to Shannon for success of Blood and Fire.
ReplyDeleteI find it exciting that the Dead Sea Scrolls finally are being made accessible, electronically, today. What wonders will be revealed?
http://www.freep.com/article/20110927/NEWS07/109270376/Dead-Sea-Scrolls-go-online-1st-time
Renaissance Faires sound like a lot of fun. I would love to go to one someday.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really good book. I've never read anything by Shannon McKenna. I have been to Portland though and I even climbed part of the path on Mt. Hood. It's a beautiful area.
Congrats to Shannon on her release day! I have never been to a Renaissance Fair or to Italy. Guess I need to put both on my to do someday list. I'd love to visit Italy. So many sights to see there, and so much food to eat. :)
ReplyDeleteI love Shannon's McCloud books and can't wait to read this one! As a Latin teacher I should love ancient languages and I really do. ;) I think it's great to (mostly) read a language that was spoken by people over 2000 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI've spent several holidays in Italy and loved it there. Especially the south is not overcrowded and has got beautiful beaches.
I have never been to a Renaissance Fair but have seen pics and would love to go to one.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought I might visit Italy to see the great historical sights and taste the great Italian foods and still may do so.
Thanks for the opportunity to enter giveaway.
misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com
My parents and grandparents use to speak Italian (or at least their dialect from Sicily) all the time but especially if they didn't want us to hear. Use to drive me crazy lol. But I do miss hearing it. Maybe that's why I like accents so much.
ReplyDeleteShannon is also a new author for me but her book sounds very interesting!
Catslady
Hi, Shannon! I cannot wait to read your books! I have heard nothing but great things!
ReplyDeleteI have always wanted to go to a Renaissance Faire-- it seems like such fun!
Have never been to a Renaissance Faire--Sounds like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteI've heard about Renn Fairs. One of my favorite artists on Devaintart joins them every chance he got.
ReplyDeleteReally don't know much about Italian culture. My hubby's step dad is closed mouth about it. I can tell you the quickest way to offend one is give them cold pasta.
Yeah mmy hubby's step dad is pure Italian.
wow lov e shannon books whooo
ReplyDeletei would love to go a fair i like shaksphere and seein men in uniformas and josting whoo
thanks for the giveways
kim h
The cover for Shannon's latest book is stunning and it has a paranormal feel to it.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to ancient languages they fascinate me but I don't think I would ever have the patience to learn it, especially if it's dead like Latin. The do come in handy in academia because so many names are derived from these languages. What does interest me is ancient cultures.
I wonder how few people even speak an ancient language anymore. I understand that Latin is almost a pre-requisite for many ministers & priests etc, but Ancient Greek for one??
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would have happened if Champollion had not discovered the Rosetta Stone (or it had been destroyed over time). We would know so little about Egypt.
ReplyDeleteThanks for featuring this book!
Sue
I love Renainasse fairs. We have a lot in our area and my kids love them. They think they are fun, plus it is something different to do.
ReplyDeleteShannon is a new author for me and would love to win and read this book, so plese choose me for the giveaway.
christinebails@yahoo.com
I would love to go to a Renaissance Fair at least once to experience it because it seems like a lot of fun to do all those activities and dress up.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your release! This is a new to me author and I"m definitely adding her to my wishlist :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been to a renaissance fair or to Italy. I'd think that it would be a fun experience to try either :)
Thanks for the lovely post and giveway!
I have never been to a Renaissance Faire, however, my daughter has and makes her own costumes to wear to them.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to reading Blood and Fire - I love Shannon McKenna's books!