The Book Cubby

Henry Goes To The Park By Zetta and Mitchell Hupf (Excerpt)~~You see, Henry was always the first one found when they played Hide and go seek. He would take too long to find a spot or the spot wasn't big enough to hide all of Henry and everyone would find him first. "This time," Henry thought, "I know I'm going to win."

http://thehupfsbookshelf.webs.com

Alex Fox Moves To Town By Zetta and Mitchell Hupf (Excerpt)~~Chloe saw the bushes moving and started walking over to see what was going on.

"Where are you going?" Bella asked.

"Just come with me!" Replied Chloe.

Scotty and Bella ran to catch up with her. Alex noticed them coming towards him. So he scurried to get up and run deeper in the tree line. He tripped over a tree root and fell to the ground. Mr. Turtle's box went flying through the air and fell right at Chloe's feet.

http://thehupfsbookshelf.webs.com

Excerpt One from Bree

Everything was shrouded in darkness as a ghostly pale woman ran resolutely down the steep hill. Twigs snapped beneath her bare, icy feet digging their way into her tender, pink flesh. The sudden, warm gushing of blood replaced the numbing cold. Whorzhog, hellish doglike beasts barked their deadly intent close behind her, teeth bared through harsh breath.
She didn't have time to brush back the limbs that repeatedly slapped her in the face. Her lips were swollen and bruised. She could taste the blood, metallic on her tongue. Blinded by tears, she stumbled forward and smacked her face, hard on a stone jutting from the earth. The world spun violently beneath her. She fought the urge to collapse and scrambled to her feet. She checked the bundle beneath her trembling arm for damages. She had been running in circles for hours, she was sure of it! She could feel fatigue overtaking her worn and battered body. A few more agonizing minutes passed and she burst into a clearing..A deep sparkling creek lay a few yards before her glinting in the moonlight. How am I going to get across without drawing more attention to myself? She had no choice. She took a deep breath and dropped to her knees and began droning in an ancient tongue. A soft, silvery glow formed around her frame illuminating her and her surroundings. Her long, black hair whipped madly about her face as a towering old tree began to moan and bow gracefully across the creek; the tiptop of its branches touching the frosted soil on the other side. She climbed quickly onto its massive trunk and inched her way across. Once on solid ground she ran her delicate fingers over its rough bark. Thank you, old one. She thought, sending the message to its very roots. The tree righted itself and sent a shower of needles down on her head.

Excerpt Two from Bree

Near the castle pines were losing their luster and some were even dying. Their needles blackened and fell to the ground; the trunks looking scorched by unseen fire. A sickness was spreading. Animals fled from its presence for everything it touched was contaminated. The streams were beginning to run black and people were beginning to thirst in the areas it infected.
Calyce sat upon her throne, eyes blackened, circles forming below them; her lips had turned to ebony, her skin bleached. She looked of death. She carried the poison now, in her skin, her blood, and everything she touched..every place she trod. If she couldn't find her enemies, she would flush them out by any means necessary. She tainted the land with her evil and wouldn't stop until she had what she wanted.
Check out www.melissasdiaz.com for more excerpts!

Defenders of Naturion excerpt www.defendersofnaturion.com
Every month a new character is posted on my site along with an excerpt. This months feature is the Trumpfuss. Stop by and check it out.

The grunge was pulling him into the ground very quickly. He tried to get away but it was no use. Suddenly, Torie saw a large piece of what looked like grass stand up off the ground. It looked like a walking piece of sod, like the ones that the school just laid where the sign was posted, 'DO NOT WALK ON THE GRASS.' Another came from in front of her, leaving her with just a small piece of grass she was standing on. Others that looked like bark came off the trees and walked toward where Lucas was. Torie did not know what to do.

Interesting...think I'll check it out.
Melissa S Diaz www.melissasdiaz.com
[Cheryl Zemke]

Excerpt from "Carnival Mirror"

The next morning the phone rang and my Dad answered it. It was the local police. They were telling my Dad to prepare me when I went home. My Dad took me home, trying to explain what the officer said. I couldn't comprehend completely what I would drive up on. As we drove up, we saw a 6' x 6' burn mark in the side yard. My husband set everything I owned out on the front lawn, lit a match and it went up in smoke!. My entire life's possessions.

As I went running through the house my closet was empty, my drawers dumped out, pictures gone, mementos gone, and all the clothes my mom and sister had made me through the years, my daughter?s baby dresses I had saved in boxes ? gone! My mom had knitted beautiful sweaters on her electronic knitting machine and my sister always made me beautiful skirts to wear with boots in the winter. She even once made me lace bras and underwear. I wanted to keep everything they had made for me. It was very precious to me.

As I searched, it was more evident, everything I cherished was gone. I was in shock, out of breath, deflated, violated, so hurt. I was an incomplete shell of a woman left standing in the only thing I now owned, a t-shirt, pair of shorts and flip-flops.

Dreams of Glory (Excerpt)

Dreams, I sometimes wondered, what they are and what they mean.
Dreams, are what every boy has growing up, a dream to play in the National Hockey League. If you owned a pair of skates, and went skating till who knows when. These were probably your dreams, your future. If you listen closely enough, our hearts speak to our dreams. If its what you desire, and if you had skated in the frigid weather, through supper and till your mom had to come and get you. Then maybe this is what your dreams were probably telling you.
Sometimes when we dream, we may not understand them. Or what they are telling us. What they really are, what I believe, a glimpse into our future, they are a peek to what we are supposed to do. We sometimes face obstacles, and we sometimes let them defeat us. Sometimes we watch as our dreams drift away. This is a story of my dream, to play in the National Hockey League.
This story takes place in Cranberry Portage, a small community in Northern Manitoba. Frontier Collegiate Institute. I played for the Mohawks hockey club in the Saskatchewan High School League. It is mid season and I am about to head back to school, after spending Christmas holidays with my mother. Listen closely, as you are about to embark on a journey. Through my eyes I would like to share, what it is like to be a player with that dream.

Second (excerpt )

The crowd cheered as the Millionaires touched the ice; they skated by center ice looking at us, sizing us up perhaps. Farmer boys we called them, the size of some of them was unbelievable. But we were not intimidated, I watched as one by one circled center ice. Looking for him, maybe he was not playing. It was as life itself had come to a complete halt, as he appeared.
Number 27 slowly made his way to the ice, Wade McCormick. Standing 6 foot 5 with his skates, you can almost hear the ice separating as his blades cut through it. I watched his every move; the way he handled the puck, it was like it was stuck to his stick. He had soft hands for a guy his size with a quick release. I was in complete awe witnessing his talent.
?That?s the guy you want to watch out for.? Waylon had said.
?Huh, What?? Catching me in a daydream.
?McCormick! Man he?s good isn?t he? But you can take him out eh??
?I don?t know.? I had said.
?Ah don?t doubt yourself. Just because you?re only 5? 6?, he?s not that much taller than you.?
?5?10? and 170lbs.? I said cutting him off.
?Whatever, remember that guy in Dauphin?? Waylon said.
?Oh yah! How can I forget? That was sweet; I still have his face imprint in my shoulder pads, from catching him in the trolley tracks. I really smacked him good didn?t I?? I grinned from ear to ear.
?That you did,? Waylon said with a smile. ?I want you to do that too McCormick. Show him there?s a new boss in town.?

Linda Sallee?s inspiration to write came at great cost, the tragic loss of her precious granddaughter, Ashley Nicole, whom she and her husband raised. Born with Cystic Fibrosis, Ashley lost her battle to this devastating disease at the tender age of twenty.
Writing has been a Godsend and has helped Linda express feelings of loss and grief, of living, loving, and laughing again.

Sea Of Darkness

Wave after wave engulfs me like quicksand
devouring its prey
Fear so real I can taste it
bellowing up into my throat
it takes my breath away.

Faded Rose

One day she awoke, loneliness set in
and she sat looking at a stranger
where her reflection once had been.

No Tears Up There

How long is long enough to grieve, exactly how many days or just how many years? When is enough, enough, is there a certain amount of tears?

Announcing my latest book to be published in2010. It is a book of poetry titled Ethereal Mists and Celestial Fire by Donavon Scott Vinson.

Rather than an excerpt will post a link to download the entire book in PDF, only desire is in reaching veterans, so many returning with serious PTSD issues, much more serious than we have experienced in Vietnam.
Mine is a biography, vets need to see someone who had been taken to the brink and brought back when I was thought to be beyond helping.
Everything is fully documented.

http://www.loutalley.com/Godsmaniac.html

It's A Long Way Home (excerpt) by Jack Orwin
Percy eyed the "Once and Future Queen of Antiques" with the intensity of Red Buttons, while mesmerized by the toothless orafice which seemed to hold him in a hypnotic trance. He gave into the corpulent shark, without debate, strictly in an effort to escape the musty, carnivalesque aroma of the one room antique shop. The shanty located on the banks of the Mississippi, once a thriving trading post in pre-Civil War Louisiana, now seemed a ghost store of items for which the shopkeepress may have claimed original purchase.