DEFINED by OTHERS

One of my favorite reviews
5Fascinating story line  on December 12, 2014
What would it take to corrupt someone and break their spirit, drive them to commit crimes and go insane? Pondering these deep questions, venturing into my own soul, is what I’m left with after putting down, MCV Egan’s, brilliant and cleverly written new age saga. What would or could possibly drive a group of 47 year old women to vengeful madness? Can we blame menopausal hormone changes; inherent psychological or post-traumatic stress incident predispositions; fear and denial of aging; or perhaps a mid-life crisis? Certainly any one of these, all of these, or other factors enter into the equation. It takes very intelligent writing to get a reader to a place of really having a look at themselves; but as the author so astutely states toward the end, in the narrative reflection, “can I get to know and forgive, look in the mirror and feel love,” and poignantly she points out, “it’s in there,” one cannot help but self-reflect.
What starts out with the death of a High School friend, Amanda, two of the main characters, Anne and Connie, get together to further the plan of the deceased; to hack cyberspace, make up fake accounts, and dupe other High School friends. The only reasoning is it’s for the forwarding of the challenge posed by the deceased, Amanda. But is that all? Intertwined in the plot is ostensible heartache and betrayal as we learn that Anne’s husband, Frank, and Connie’s husband, Mike, have become lovers. It would make sense then that from this raw vulnerable place they would be justified to embark on furthering Amanda’s sick cyber game of trumped up romance connections with innocent victims.
Whether it’s the pot smoking duo, tainted cookies, (aka: cookie mickey), the inner drive toward friends and to belong at all costs, finding love, and fear of losing it, something is driving the deceit and it is in this curiosity that the glue to the story is woven together with to make it a compelling read. This is a clever story with metaphysical new age scenes, current social medial insertions, and all that makes it ring contemporary. As the plot is carried along to the last and shocking ending, when the last page arrives and is shut it’s hard to stop thinking of this story. That’s the mark of really good writing.
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Product DetailsOn August 15th, 1939, an English passenger plane from British Airways Ltd. crashed in Danish waters between the towns of Nykøbing Falster and Vordingborg. There were five casualties reported and one survivor. Just two weeks before, Hitler invaded Poland. With the world at the brink of war, the manner in which this incident was investigated left much open to doubt. The jurisdiction battle between the two towns and the newly formed Danish secret police created an atmosphere of intrigue and distrust. The Bridge of Deaths is a love story and a mystery. Fictional characters travel through the world of past life regressions and information acquired from psychics as well as archives and historical sources to solve “one of those mysteries that never get solved.” Based on true events and real people, The Bridge of Deaths is the culmination of 18 years of sifting through conventional and unconventional sources in Denmark, England, Mexico and the United States. The story finds a way to help the reader feel that s/he is also sifting through data and forming their own conclusions. Cross The Bridge of Deaths into 1939, and dive into cold Danish waters to uncover the secrets of the G-AESY.The Bridge of Deaths Revised Edition: A Love Story and A Mystery

 

M.C.V. Egan is the pen name chosen by Maria Catalina Vergara Egan. Catalina was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1959, the sixth of eight children, in a traditional Catholic family. From a very young age, she became obsessed with the story of her maternal grandfather, Cesar Agustin Castillo–mostly the story of how he died. She spent her childhood in Mexico. When her father became an employee of The World Bank in Washington D.C. in the early 1970s, she moved with her entire family to the United States. Catalina was already fluent in English, as she had spent one school year in the town of Pineville, Louisiana with her grandparents. There she won the English award, despite being the only one who had English as a second language in her class. In the D.C. suburbs she attended various private Catholic schools and graduated from Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland in 1977. She attended Montgomery Community College, where she changed majors every semester. She also studied in Lyons, France, at the Catholic University for two years. In 1981, due to an impulsive young marriage to a Viking (the Swedish kind, not the football player kind), Catalina moved to Sweden where she resided for five years and taught at a language school for Swedish, Danish, and Finnish businesspeople. She then returned to the USA, where she has lived ever since. She is fluent in Spanish, English, French and Swedish. Maria Catalina Vergara Egan is married and has one son who, together with their five-pound Chihuahua, makes her feel like a full-time mother. Although she would not call herself an astrologer she has taken many classes and taught a few beginner classes in the subject.

 

 

Danielle Nutter


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Life as Danielle knew it vanished! A new world of spiritual awareness and development miraculously appeared. In spite of this, the new beginning set off a series of events that erupted deep undesirable emotions and surfaced repressed issues that led to depression, hopelessness and borderline suicide. Discover how Danielle was able to heal her broken heart, awaken as a spiritual being and presently live her life as an example for others to learn and follow.

 

 

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Keynote Speaker – Jana Oliver
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MCV Egan

 

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First Visit to Miami & a Dose of Reality

© M.C.V. Egan

It is a funny thing about life that it sometimes foreshadows events, in the same fashion as a well written novel. These moments are such that we often recognize them well after the fact, but sometimes they are far too obvious to ignore.

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In August 1981, when President Ronald Reagan fired more than 11,000 air traffic controllers, I was returning from my honeymoon, the stop in Miami was meant to be a short one.

With airports functioning with the most basic of skeleton crews it turned into a full day at the Miami airport, with no guarantee from the airline as to when we would leave and a strong suggestion not to leave the airport.

Like many fellow travelers we found a place to sit or at times lay down on the floor and waited. The honeymoon had not been what one would call a success and here was another “sign” that ours was not the brightest of futures as a couple.

As the minutes dragged into hours my Swedish husband in great discomfort from his Cancun sunburn was far from a pleasant travel companion. I can only assume that he remembers me just as difficult. In an era devoid of all the fabulous excuses we have today; phones, laptops, iPads; and even though Sony Walkman’s came out in 1979, they were far from common place in 1981 with non-rechargeable batteries. There were only two perfect excuses not to look at each other or talk; reading and sleeping.

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It was in those long hours at the Miami airport that I discovered The Woman’s Room by Marilyn French, It was at the end of my honeymoon that I began to realize I was a feminist. At the age of 22, as an avid murder mystery reader, it was far from a logical book for me to be attracted to, but as I said, the honeymoon had not been a great success. I had already solved many a mystery and found a corpse or two in those magical days generally reserved for planning a happy future.

In the little over five years that my first marriage lasted I read more than most people do in a lifetime. Escaping the reality of my life I was open to every possible genre and re-read books I had not particularly appreciated when they were a requirement from a class rather than a pleasure.

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That August 1981 day at the Miami airport I had no way of knowing that by the end of that decade I would permanently move to South Florida with my second husband nor that all the reading that replaced living during my first marriage would be the strong foundation I needed to plunge into fearless writing.

As signs and Omens go when we were finally boarded onto a plane packed with tired weary travelers, the flight to Washington D.C.’s National Airport (Reagan’s name was not added until 1998) was smooth and uneventful.

The Washington D.C. area was my home for well over a decade and when we disembarked an old boyfriend who was unaware of my new marital status was welcoming his grandmother from Miami on that very plane. He was a lively, loud, gregarious Cuban American. His greeting “Catalina!” was followed by plopping a gigantic sloppy kiss on my lips. I introduced him to my husband which he appraised in a state of confusion.

At 22 I do not remember the voice somewhere in the back of my mind that must have made it clear ours was destined to be a short future.

PLEASE VISIT ME AT COZY IN MIAMI

MADISON’S SONG a Paranormal Romance

Christine Amsden – Madison’s Song – Release Blitz

 
 
Date Published: July 15, 2015
 

Her voice is enchanting; his soul is black…

Madison Carter has been terrified of Scott Lee since the night he saved her from an evil sorcerer – then melted into a man-eating monster before her eyes. The werewolf is a slave to the moon, but Madison’s nightmares are not.

Despite her fears, when Madison’s brother, Clinton, is bitten by a werewolf, she knows there is only one man who can help. A man who frightens her all the more because even in her nightmares, he also thrills her.

Together for the first time since that terrible night, Scott and Madison drive to Clinton’s home only to discover that he’s vanished. Frantic now, Madison must overcome her fears and uncover hidden strengths if she hopes to save him. And she’s not the only one fighting inner demons. Scott’s are literal, and they have him convinced that he will never deserve the woman he loves.


 
EXCERPT
 

 

            “Silence,” David commanded.

            Her throat continued to work, but no sound emerged. She felt like a fish being gutted, choking and spluttering as David returned to the work of cutting into the soft, sensitive flesh of her belly. Yet even as tears refilled her eyes and fear devoured her heart, some part of her recognized that her guts remained intact. Whatever David was doing to her with the dagger involved tracing shallow patterns across the surface of her skin.

            Fight the pain. Take deep breaths. Ground and center. She was not in the empty living room of a house she had not quite moved into yet, she was at church, singing in the choir. Above her, Jesus hung from a cross, a crown of thorns atop his head, a soft glow surrounding him. She usually found the magic within that glow. She reached for it…

            “Stop that!” David slapped her hard across the face.

            Once again her eyes flew open. She saw the dagger dripping with blood – her blood. Had her feeble grab for magic actually made a difference? David seemed to have noticed something, but what?

            “You’re just making this harder on yourself,” David said.

            “What do you want?” Madison tried to ask. Her mouth moved, her lips forming the question, but no sound emerged.

            She didn’t think he would answer; he couldn’t even have heard the question, but to her surprise he only hesitated a moment before saying, “Your soul.”

 

Christine Amsden has been writing science fiction and fantasy for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.

At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, a condition that affects the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams. (You can learn more here.)

In addition to writing, Christine teaches workshops on writing at Savvy Authors. She also does some freelance editing work.

Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. They have two beautiful children.