This week's Thursday Thirteen is Thirteen Places I want to visit before I die. So without further ado and in no particular order, off we go.

1. Egypt.
2. Angkor Wat, Cambodia.
3. The Great Wall, China.
4. Istanbul.
5. Goreme, Turkey.
6. Carcassone, France.
7. Stonehenge, England.
8. Petra, Jordan.
9. The Eifel Tower, Paris, France.
10. Hadrian's Wall, England.
11. Hot Mud Pools, Rotarura, New Zealand.
12. Red Square, Moscow, Russia.
13. Mongolia.

This week's Six Sentence Sunday is from my short story Sunburnt Country, out in serial form in the Something Happened on the Way to Heaven serial published by Less Than Three Press and out at the end of August.

He was about to say something when Raziel stopped dead in his tracks and stared, pointing.

"What on earth is that?"

"It's a big blue whale," Tommy said calmly.

"I can see that, but ... why is it here?" Raziel stared at it.

"It advertises beer, mate," Tommy stifled a laugh behind a cough.

"It's made of solid concrete," James added helpfully, grinning broadly at Raziel's astonishment.



*~*~*

posted a link of 15 YA/Children's books you should read, and then posted a list of her favourites. Before I passed out last night, I pondered this myself and below is a list that is a little bit longer than fifteen - mainly because I couldn't choose. Oops!

Books I loved as a child/young adult:

1. The Stone Cage - Nicholas Stuart Gray
2. Black Beauty - Anna Sewell
3. Carbonell (trilogy) - Barbara Sleigh
4. Star Ka'at - Andre Norton
5. Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis (esp. The Last Battle bc of Jewel the Unicorn.)
6. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster
7. Gobbolino the Witch's Cat - Ursula Moray Williams
8. The Water Babies - Charles Kingsley
9. V - A. C. Crispin
10. The Silver Brumby - Elyne Mitchell (and the rest of the Brumby books.)
11. Cats in the Belfry - Doreen Tovey (and all her other books.)
12. The Famous Five books / The Malory Towers books / The ...of Adventure series - Enid Blyton
13. Watership Down - Richard Adams
14. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Ian Fleming
15. The Phoenix and The Carpet trilogy - E. E. Nesbit
16. The Black Stallion - Walter Farley
17. Charlotte's Web - E. B. White
18. Born Free - Joy Adams
19. The Green Grass of Wyoming - Mary O'Hara
20. Forever - Judy Blume.

A lot of books featuring magical and/or talking cats and other animals. It's a mixed bag, really. What are some of your favourites from childhood/teenagerhood?

Coming on August 24th: "Sunburnt Country" by LJ LaBarthe at Less Than Three Press.

Sunburnt Country is the story of James, a young man working in outback Australia. One day, Archangel Raziel appears and tells James that he can hear demons. He needs James's help to find his book of magic that has been stolen by an Archdemon named Adramelech. After convincing James that Raziel is who and what he says he is, they set out to try to find the book and Adramelech. James is deeply unnerved by the events leading up to getting the book back. However, James cannot deny that he is attracted to Raziel, an attraction that is mutual and eventually consummated. Archangel Uriel arrives, telling Raziel to protect James and the town while he fights Adramelech. Adramelech manages to outmanoeuvre Uriel, confronting Raziel and James in James's home. As Raziel and Adramelech prepare to fight, James grabs the book. Uriel arrives to fight Adramelech and Raziel goes to James. James and Raziel spend time together and come to an understanding: to pursue a relationship together.

Read an excerpt here.

Sign up for the serial anthology release here.