I had a different post prepared to share today, but I’m going to save that for another day because I don’t feel the timing is appropriate now. The article I wrote is about True Crime in my opinion, as well as a share about my own scary past.
So today’s post is just short with a question. I recently received a horrid and life-threatening comment on one of my recent posts, my writing tips post to be exact. I’m grateful that I don’t allow comments without my approval, and this one came direct to me in comments, not even spam. It was quite lengthy, threatening me, hopped over from LinkedIn, told me how he’s going to r@pe me and kill my family, he knows where I live, and if I promote anywhere, I’ll deal with his bosses. There were some choice words about what he’s going to do to me if I don’t promote with his bosses.
I was horrified at what I read. I checked in with a close friend (author) sharing what I read, and she told me she too had received the same! I’ve been mulling this over, and since there are so many cyber bullies and scammers, we never know how serious a threat can be, so I’ve decided rather than ‘just be cautious’, I would inform our Canadian RCMP cyber fraud department. And that I did to no avail after three hours on hold for the non emergency police. That was after wasting an hour online filling out my complaint on the RCMP fraud page. Except you waste your time filling out everything five times, only to find their website isn’t functioning so you can’t submit after filling out. It’s no surprise so many people die before they can get help. Yup, that’s about the speed of overwhelmed, under-funded Toronto with all of our social services and cuts – thanks to Doug Ford.
What my question is today for all of you bloggers and authors, have any of you received such a threat in your WordPress comments – or on social media, for that matter? I would like to know if this may be a group author target or if I have more to worry about.
Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing Deborah Brasket’s – When Things Go Missing. This book is a story about a mom who leaves home to go to the store – and doesn’t return. When mom goes missing, how does her husband Walter and her adult children cope in her absence?
What happens when the one person holding a family together mysteriously disappears?How well do we really know anyone, especially those we love the most?
One day Fran heads toward the grocery store and keeps going till she reaches the tip of South America, leaving an empty hole in the lives of her family: Kay, a cranky archaeology student who adores her mother but distrusts men in general, her father and brother in particular. Cal, a heroin addict living at home, left with a father he fears and no means of support; and Walter, a devoted husband but distant father, who tracks his wife’s journey across the continent with pushpins on a map.
Adding to the mystery of the mother’s disappearance are the “gifts” she sends her family: The elated messages she leaves on Kay’s phone, but never when she’s there to pick up. The strange photographs she sends Cal, who studies them like hieroglyphs he must decipher to save her and himself. The credit card bills she leaves Walter, allowing him to continue caring for her, until he undertakes his own journey northward. How they fill the missing pieces in their lives to make their family whole again creates the heart of this novel.
When Things Go Missing is a masterful exploration of loss, loyalty, and knotty, dysfunctional families, told through the viewpoints of Kay, Cal, and Walter. It reveals the subtle and dramatic ways addiction affects the bonds that hold a family together. This heartfelt meditation on family is wrapped up in a propulsive page-turner that you cannot help getting swept up in.
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My 5 Star Review:
When mom, Fran, flies the coop and leaves her dysfunctional adult children, Kay an archaeologist, and Cal a drug addict, and aloof husband Walter behind, the book is what happens. Fran goes out to the store one day and keeps driving right through to South America. We’ll learn through the chapters – stories shared by daughter Kay, and drug addict son Cal, and husband Walter who really doesn’t have much to say, but keeps track of his wife’s whereabouts on a map with a pushpin and continues to pay her credit card bills. Nobody seems overly concerned about Fran’s solo escape at first, but we’ll learn exactly how her missing presence really does affect her family as we get to know them and their thoughts about their family life through the chapters.
Family dysfunction abounds in this story, and as we learn how these characters feel about their absent mother, they are also learning to grow up and deal with their problems while mommy isn’t always around to make things better for them. This is a story about a dysfunct family who all appear lost when mom isn’t around, and a husband who too wanders.
Kay is a bit of a worry wart, and the one who presents herself with the clearest head. She’s always anxious and sometimes desperate to hear from her mom – who only calls on Kay’s landline to leave her messages when she knows Kay isn’t home. Cal is a mess. He’s drugged out and has been to rehab more than once. He doesn’t show responsibility and seems to have a love-hate relationship with his father. He’s been a pain and a drain for so long, I feel his dad is just tired of the rinse and repeat of Cal. Whereas, mom, Fran, has always coddled her son. Cal comes off to me as entitled with zero ambition, but somehow we can feel that he vies for his father’s attention; some recognition or approval when he attempts to do any household chore. Dad Walter comes off as aloof, no opinion, no worry, no questions as to why his wife is gone, yet he continues to pay for her lifestyle and travel.
Months after mom is gone, Dad decides he needs to take a fishing trip up in Alaska, and that journey opens up new ideas for Walter – perhaps like planting some roots in Alaska and fishing the rest of his life. Meanwhile, back at the house, Cal is on a never-ending trip with heroine and has been selling everything he can from the house to keep up his drug habit. And then once again, miraculously dries out again, deciding to take up welding with his free time; a convenient hobby since his dad was a welder and had a garage full of equipment. Has Cal decided to finally grow up? Then a new person shows up in Cal’s life who seems to turn the tide for him, as they are a good fit for each other. Can Cal stay away from the drugs? Kay also seems to grow up with her aversion to committment after she meets Richard, a gallery owner, and struggles with her feelings for Richard and her fear of committment.
I felt as though I was watching these characters grow as they seemed to stumble through life after Fran left their security zone. Even Walter in his new life, discovered things about himself, his marriage, and his kids as he planted himself in Alaska. Although we never find out why Fran left through this story, it’s not difficult to figure that perhaps Fran had had enough, wanted to explore the world, and knew leaving would be the only chance her adult children may have to finally grow up.
This book is a slow burn. It’s about people, family, lives, dependence, growing, struggling, and finally finding themselves on a bittersweet journey to discovery of self and peace. It’s character-driven so it’s meant to take these damaged people in and discover how life conditions them and finally finding themselves. It’s not a thriller with a suspenseful plot, it’s about how life affected one family when the matriarch took a powder. One may assume this is a story of Fran’s journey, but it’s really a story about how those left behind can handle life without their mother’s care, concern, and support, when we can see it was so blatantly taken for granted. Things change, people change – when things go missing.
Welcome back to my Heroic-a series of empowering women of WWII. Today I’m spotlighting one of the deadliest female snipers of WWII, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, who killed 309 fascists in the Soviet Union – in the now known as Ukraine.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko was born in Bil Tserkva, Ukraine in 1916. She was a complicated human being – brave, and forever haunted by her killings. She was a history student, became a mother, a wife twice, and a sniper. Her war is now over, but her words remain.
“Gentlemen, I am twenty-five years old and have killed three hundred and nine invaders. By now, don’t you think you’ve been hiding behind my back too long?” ~ This was the beginning of Lyudmila’s speech when she was sent to America in 1941 and met President Roosevelt and First Lady, Eleanor to try and get the US to join the war on the European front.
In 1930, Lyudmila’s family moved to Kiev, (now part of Ukraine). She was a tomboy who joined a shooting club in the Soviet Union. She worked by day at Kiev arsenal and at night she studied at the university. Her spare time was spent on shooting practice. She earned many badges and ultimately became the Soviet Union’s most remarkable precision marksman – fierce and determined.
By June 1941, operation Barbarosa happened. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Lyudmila went straight to the registry to join the war and fought to become a shooter – not a nurse or any other female roles. They tested her by handing her a rifle and told her to shoot two Nazis. Piece of cake for her. She was assigned rifle duty. The rifle weighed over four kilograms, which became like a third arm. Three weeks later she’d accumulated over one hundred sniper kills and made a hero by the Russian Red army. They nicknamed her – Lady Death.
During her first kill campaign, Lyudmila fell in love with a fellow sniper and married him. She was sent to the Crimean Peninsula to fight for eight grueling months of unrelenting hell to fight in the Battle of Sevastopol. The Soviets were outnumbered ten to one. By June 1942, the Luftansa had dropped over fifty tons of artillery on them. After the siege, only eleven survived. Lyudmila was one of them. She trained new snipers and was promoted to Lieutenant. Her new husband died in battle, and Lyudmila channeled her grief through her rifle. Her record for counter snipers were remarkable. The National WWII Museum states that she won every battle she fought. Her patience remained hidden as she stayed concealed without movement for three days during the Battle of Sevastopol.
Lyudmila’s tactical methods were diabolical. She never had to fire more than one shot, just as she never used the same hiding place twice. She was an ace at using decoys. Lyudmila suffered four wounds by 1942. Two were serious shrapnel wounds that left her in hospital in Crimea. The Soviets realized just how valuable she was and didn’t want her back in the action risking her life, but opted to use her to train other snipers. And in 1941, she was sent to Washington, D.C. to gain the support of America to join the war and help fight the fascists. Stalin wanted Western allies to join in the European front. Lyudmila was the first Soviet citizen to be seen by an American president. Roosevelt was welcoming, but it seemed American journalists were more interested in her beauty secrets than her heroism.
By the time Lyudmila spoke in Chicago, she learned how to handle the press. She toured forty-three cities with First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. After some tough ice-breaking, the two women became lifelong friends and maintained correspondence for almost two decades. In 1957, Eleanor visited Moscow. She connected with Lyudmila, all the while accutely aware they were being listened to. Eleanor commented, “There is something very charming to me about this Russian woman.” Their friendship lasted until the death of Eleanor in 1962.
In 1943 Lyudmila was awarded the Gold Star Hero award of the Soviet Union. She also received The Order of Lenin, and a commemorative stamp was made in her name. American song writer, Woodie Guthrie wrote a song for her. She also received many gifts from the U.S. From 1945 to 1953 she completed her university studies at Kiev and became a historian for the Soviet Navy headquarters, while suffering exacerbating PTSD for the rest of her life.
On October 10th, 1974, at the age of fifty-eight, Lyudmila Pavlichenko died of a stroke. The weight of war always leaves a high price tag on human life.
Watch the full story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko below in this half hour video.
DGKayewriter.com 