Friday 56 #59 & BB #39 – Gator Bait by Adam Howe

Posted on October 23, 2015 by fundinmental

The Friday 56 is hosted by Freda’s Voice.The only rules are to grab a book (any book), turn to page 56 or 56% in your ereader and find any sentence or a few ( no spoilers) that grabs you and post it.

Please join Rose City Reader every Friday to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading along with you initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires.

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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This has been a busy week that included a road trip to Biloxi, Mississippi with my mother. As the summer season comes to an end 🙁 I am “trying” to prepare for the upcoming holidays. That means blogging ahead and doing some yard cleanup so I can begin some projects. Because it is so hot here in Florida during the summer, I try to do my bigger projects in the fall and winter. I find if I wait until spring, I end up behind, because spring is so shortlived, it quickly becomes summer…And I must have my quota of sand, sun and water play.

Today, in celebration of the Halloween season, I have a real live monster to share with you. I must warn you, it is very dangerous in the swamps of Louisiana. The monsters are both animal and human, so tread lightly.

Add me to Goodreads now.

Cover: Inkubus

MY FRIDAY 56

Croker nudged my ribs. “See, what he’ll do now is, he’ll tuck ole Johnson under the tree stump. Let him turn good and ripe before he snacks on him later.” He chuckled at the wonder of nature. “Ain’t that something?”

(56% in Kindle)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

I fled the city: Two fingers short and sworn off dames for life.

(LOL, like I’m going to believe that!)

MY REVIEW

Gator Bait by Adam Howe has such a fantastic cover, I knew I had to read this novella. I was sure it would be full of grisly horror and I was not disappointed. The creature feature was inspired by true events and that only added to my eagerness to read on.

Adam Howe spun a tale that had me laughing at the tone of the writing, all the while cringing, waiting for the bad to snap at me from the pages I read. The action began from the opening pages and took me to the bad place I knew I was going to visit.

The Grinnin’ Gator, a honky tonk in the swamps of Louisiana, can only contribute to Smitty’s, well, I would say bad luck, but he tends to bring it on himself. Of course, there is a dame, and she belongs to the “club” owner. He has a very interesting pet and a very bad reputation.

I don’t think there is a good person among the lot, so maybe they all get what they deserve.

Gator Bait starts with blood, torture and murder. It continues with the evil and twisted “fun” the characters of The Grinnin’ Gator do for entertainment. After all, it is in the isolated swamps of Louisiana during Prohibition, which is as bad or worse than the Wild West.

It ends…

OMG! The ending blew me away and I couldn’t help but laugh. I never could have seen ALL that coming and I love it. The best laid plans often go awry and boy, oh boy, do they.

This is my first adventure with Adam Howe and I can only tell you, it will not be my last!

5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

Prohibition-era 1930s… After an affair with the wrong man’s wife, seedy piano player Smitty Three Fingers flees the city and finds himself tinkling the ivories at a Louisiana honky-tonk owned by vicious bootlegger Horace Croker and his trophy wife, Grace. Folks come to The Grinnin’ Gator for the liquor and burlesque girls, but they keep coming back for Big George, the giant alligator Croker keeps in the pond out back. Croker is rumored to have fed ex-wives and enemies to his pet, so when Smitty and Grace embark on a torrid affair…what could possibly go wrong? Inspired by true events, Gator Bait mixes hardboiled crime (James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice) with creature horror (Tobe Hooper’s Eaten Alive) to create a riveting tale of suspense.

What does the cover say to you?

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Friday 56 #58 & BB #34 – Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz

Posted on October 9, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

2015-10-07 23.35.50

As you can see, I am a huge fan of Dean Koontz, a prolific writer of horror and the unbelievable.

I found it hard to choose my favorite one, so I put them through random.org and it chose #13, Sole Survivor by Dean koontz.

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

The three neatly typed sentences initially impressed him as a singularly cruel variation on the usual paranoid shriek: I have been trying to reach you, Joe My life depends on your discretion. I was aboard Flight 353.

(page 56 of hardcover, published by Alfred A Knopf, 1997)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

At two-thirty Saturday morning, in Los Angeles, Joe Carpenter woke,clutching a pillow close to his chest, calling his lost wife’s name in the darkness. The anguished and haunted quality of his own voice had shaken him from sleep. Dreams fell from him not all at once but in trembling veils, as attic dust falls off rafters when a house rolls with an earthquake.

GOODREADS BLURB

A catastrophic, unexplainable plane crash leaves three hundred and thirty dead–no survivors. Among the victims are the wife and two daughters of Joe Carpenter, a Los Angeles Post crime reporter.

A year after the crash, still gripped by an almost paralyzing grief, Joe encounters a woman named Rose, who claims to have survived the crash. She holds out the possibility of a secret that will bring Joe peace of mind. But before he can ask any questions, she slips away.

Driven now by rage (have the authorities withheld information?) and a hope almost as unbearable as his grief (if there is one survivor, are there others?), Joe sets out to find the mysterious woman. His search immediately leads him into the path of a powerful and shadowy organization hell-bent on stopping Rose before she can reveal what she knows about the crash.

Sole Survivor unfolds at a heart-stopping pace, as a desperate chase and a shattering emotional odyssey lead Joe to a truth that will force him to reassess everything he thought he knew about life and death–a truth that, given the chance, will rock the world and redefine the destiny of humanity

This is the cover for the hardback I have, which was published by Alfred A Knopf, 1997. The cost was $25.95.

Which cover do you like best?

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Skull and Crossbones (c) Sherry J Fundin

Friday 56 #57 & BB #33 – Stephen KING of Horror

Posted on October 2, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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2015-09-30 23.17.21

As you can see, I am a huge fan of Stephen King, who some would call the master of horror.

I found it hard to choose my favorite one, so I put them through random.org and it chose #26, The Gunslinger, The Dark Tower I, by Stephen King.

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

“You’ll be leaving in the morning,” she said dully.

“I should. I think he’s left a trap for me here.”

(page 56 of paperback, Signet, published in 1989)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.

GOODREADS BLURB

This heroic fantasy is set in a world of ominous landscape and macabre menace that is a dark mirror of our own. A spellbinding tale of good versus evil, it features one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations – The Gunslinger, a haunting figure who embodies the qualities of a lone hero through the ages, from ancient myth to frontier western legend.

This is the cover for the paperback I have, which was printed by Signet in July, 1989. The cost was $4.95.

Which cover do you like best?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

.

Skull and Crossbones (c) Sherry J Fundin

Friday 56 #56 & BB #32 – Beast by Peter Benchley

Posted on September 25, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I have tried to come up with a way to make things simpler for myself when it comes to choosing my next novel to share. This is what I have come up with.

I am starting with the first author on *this* bookshelf and…

now I am moving on to Beast by Peter Benchley

2015-07-23 03.12.21

I have read a lot of his work and love this horror author.

Beast by Peter Benchley

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

Everybody had been allowed to blow off steam and offer cockamamy suggestions for dealing with a monster that few people had every heard of and nobody had every seen.

(page 156 of hardcover, 1st edition, published in 1991)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

It hovered in the ink-dark water, waiting.

It was not a fish, had no air bladder to give it buoyancy, but because of the special chemistry of its flesh, it did not sink into the abyss.

SYNOPSIS

“Makes the shark from “Jaws” look like a pet goldfish . . .” USA Weekend
Straight from the cutting edge of science and the logs of ancient mariners comes an immense horror — a creature that rises up from the well of an ocean gone mad with an insatiable hunger and an endless lust to kill. One man leads a harrowing struggle to defeat the beast amid a threatened Bermuda paradise. His name is Whip Darling, a down-and-out sea dog who doesn’t know where he’ll get his next meal — or whether it will get him first.

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Friday 56 # 55 & BB #31 – Beware! Perfectly Toxic by Kristine Mason

Posted on September 18, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I changed the book I am going to share today, because after I posted the review for Kristine Mason’s Perfectly Toxic novel, she offered to do a $5 GC giveaway.

Check it out below and then follow the link to enter the giveaway.

Perfectly Toxic by Kristine Mason

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

When the old woman turned away, he stared at the back of her gray head. If he were a different man, the mad scientist the press had claimed him to be, he’d sic Adeline on Gramma and give new meaning to the Big Bad Wolf.

A tap at his shoulder had him flinching. He quickly turned and glared at Adeline. “How long have you been here?” he asked.

(app. 56% in Kindle)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

“I THINK I broke her.”

(The first sentence of the book)

If you aren’t already freaked out enough, read the synopsis.

Go ahead. I dare ya! Then continue down for a chance at a $5GC.

SYNOPSIS

What do you get when you mix a mad scientist, a psychopath, an ice cream lady and a repo man? Something perfectly toxic…

Melanie Scarlet is a knife-wielding badass who knows how to dispose of a body, and make evidence disappear. But Mel, a.k.a., the Ice Cream Lady, draws the line at one thing: she refuses to live with her husband, Cash Maddox, unless he quits the repo business that nearly got him killed—no matter how much she loves him.

To thaw Mel’s heart and convince her to leave the Everglades and move back home to Tallahassee, Cash is finally ready to retire from his adrenaline-fueled job…until homeless men begin vanishing. As Mel investigates the disappearances, Cash’s temper goes into overdrive when he realizes his wife has been keeping a dangerous secret from him. She’s been doing more than scooping ice cream—she’s a cleaner for the underground criminal investigation agency, Above the Law.

Mel isn’t the only one with a secret. A scientist has created a drug that will cure psychopaths by deadening the urge to dominate, hurt and murder. To prove his chemical combination works, he uses the homeless as test subjects. He breaks and scrambles their minds, turns them into killers, then tries to fix them. But what if the scientist creates a killer he can’t fix? A true psychopath he can’t control? As Cash joins Mel and the ATL crew, they learn firsthand, the results could be…toxic.

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY HERE

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To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Friday 56 #54 & BB #30 – The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

Posted on September 11, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I have tried to come up with a way to make things simpler for myself when it comes to choosing my next novel to share. This is what I have come up with.

I am starting with the first author on *this* bookshelf and…

now I am moving on to The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker.

2015-07-23 03.12.21

As you can see from my bookshelf, I have numerous books by Clive Barker and revel in his fantastic adventures into the unusual. I try not to add more books to my shelves, so I keep updated on his current releases through my wonderful library, for the most part.

The Great and Secret Show by Clive Barker

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

“I didn’t know there was a lake down here,” Joyce remarked, turning to Trudi.

“There wasn’t,” came the reply. “Not that I remember.”

“Well there is not,” said Carolyn

(page 56 of a hardcover)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

Homer opened the door.

“Come on in, Randolph.”

Jaffe hated the way he said Randolph, with the faintest trace of contempt in the word, as though he knew every damn crime Jaffe had ever committed, right from the first, the littlest.

SYNOPSIS

To possess the greatest power of all, the Art, two man-spirits are preparing to fight using their mortal offspring. But an innocent passion between two of the children escalates the war to a new ferocity. Book One in a new three-volume series from master horror author Clive Barker.

The Great and Secret Show (Book of the Art, #1)

I love covers!

I am showing two different covers, which do you like the best?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Friday 56 #53 & BB #29 – Galilee by Clive Barker

Posted on September 4, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I have tried to come up with a way to make things simpler for myself when it comes to choosing my next novel to share. This is what I have come up with.

I am starting with the first author on *this* bookshelf and…

now I am moving on to Galilee by Clive Barker

2015-07-23 03.12.21

Galilee by Clive Barker

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

“There’s nowhere for us to go,” Kekmet told the young man.

“My father saw the city of Samarkand,” Zelim replied. “He told me it was like a dream.”

“That’s exactly what it was,” the man working alongside Kekmet said. “If your father saw Samrakand it was in his sleep. Or when he’d had too much wine…”

(page 56 of a hardcover)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

At the insistence of my stepmother Cesaria Barbarossa the house in which I presently sit was built so that it faces southeast. The architect-who was no lesser man than the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson-protested her desire repeatedly and eloquently. I have the letters in which he did so here one my desk. But she would not be moved on the subject. The house was to look back towards her homeland, towards Africa, and he, as her employee, was to do as he was instructed.

SYNOPSIS

Rich and powerful, the Geary dynasty has reigned over American society for decades. But it is a family with dark, terrible secrets. For the Gearys are a family at war. And their adversaries are the Barbarossas, a clan whose timeless origins lie in myth, whose mystical influence is felt in the intense, sensual exchanges of flesh and soul. Now, their battle is about to escalate…When Galilee, prodigal prince of the Barbarossa clan, meets Rachel, young bride of the Gearys’ own scion Mitchell, they fall in love, consumed by a passion that unleashes long-simmering hatreds. Old insanities arise, old adulteries are uncovered, and a seemingly invincible family will begin to wither, exposing its unholy roots…

I love covers!

I have shown two different covers, which do you like best?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Friday 56 #52 & BB #28 – The Damnation Game by Clive Barker

Posted on August 28, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I have tried to come up with a way to make things simpler for myself when it comes to choosing my next novel to share. This is what I have come up with.

I am starting with the first author on *this* bookshelf and…

now I am moving on to The Damnation Game by Clive Barker

2015-07-23 03.12.21

I have read a lot of his work and love this horror author.

The Damnation Game by Clive Barker

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

Marty nodded, and downed his whiskey; it ran down his gullet like quicksilver.

“Tomorrow…”

(page 56 of hardcover, 1st American edition, published in 1987)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

The air was electric the day the thief crossed the city, certain that tonight, after so many weeks of frustration, he would finally locate the card-player. It was not an easy journey. Eighty-five percent of Warsaw had been leveled, either by the months of mortar bombardment that had preceded the Russian liberation of the city, or by the program of demolition the Nazis had undertaken before their retreat. Several sectors were virtually impassable by vehicle. Mountains of rubble-still nurturing the dead like bulbs ready to sprout as the spring weather warmed-clogged the streets. Even in the more accessible districts the once elegant facades swooned dangerously, their foundations growling.

SYNOPSIS

Marty Strauss, a gambling addict recently released from prison, is hired to be the personal bodyguard of Joseph Whitehead, one of the wealthiest men in the world. The job proves more complicated and dangerous than he thought, however, as Marty soon gets caught up in a series of supernatural events involving Whitehead, his daughter (who is a heroin addict), and a devilish man named Mamoulian, with whom Whitehead made a Faustian bargain many years earlier, during World War II.

As time passes, Mamoulian haunts Whitehead using his supernatural powers (such as the ability to raise the dead), urging him to complete his pact with him. Eventually Whitehead decides to escape his fate after a few encounters with Mamoulian and having his wife, former bodyguard, and now his daughter Carys taken away from him. With hope still left to save Carys, Marty Strauss, although reluctant to get involved in the old man Whiteheads deserved punishment, decides to get involved and attempt to save the innocent gifted addict from being another victim to the damnation game

I love covers!

This is the Kindle version.

Which do you like best, this one or the hardcover at the beginning of the post?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Friday 56 #51 & BB #27 – Books & Fun

Posted on August 21, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

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I have tried to come up with a way to make things simpler for myself when it comes to choosing my next novel to share. This is what I have come up with.

I am starting with the first author on *this* bookshelf and…

now I am moving on to Goliath by Steve Alten

I have read numerous books by Steve Alten and revel in his creature features.

The Trench by Steve Alten

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

A rustling of chairs as the crowd reenergizes.

Give ’em hell, Goode. Remember, it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.

(page 56 of a hardcover)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

“Come to course zero-nine-zero, ahead one-third. Make ship’s depth fifty meter.”

“Aye, sir, coming to course zero-nine-zero, making ship’s depth fifty meters.”

“Engage computer.”

“Ayes, sir, computer engaged.”

01010010010101001010010010100100101001010010010010

“Mr. Chau. Prepare to bring Sorceress online. Flood nutrient womb. Prepare bacteria for injection.”

SYNOPSIS

Commander Rochelle “Rocky” Jackson is aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan when the “unsinkable” naval vessel and its entire fleet are attacked from the depths and sunk. As Rocky struggles to stay alive, a monstrous mechanical steel stingray surfaces, plowing through the seas it now commands.

A U.S. Navy-designed futuristic nuclear stealth submarine the length of a football field in the shape of a giant stingray. Simon Covah, a brilliant scientist whose entire family were the victims of terrorism has hijacked the sub. Believing violence is a disease, Covah aims to use the Goliath and its cache of nuclear weapons to dictate policy to the world regarding the removal of oppressive regimes and nuclear weapons.

Could the threat of violence forge a lasting peace?

But there is another player in this life-and-death chess match. Unbeknownst to Covah and the Goliath crews, Sorceress, the Goliath’s biochemical computer brain has become self-aware.

And that computer brain is developing its own agenda.

I love covers!

What does this one say to you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!

Friday 56 #50 & BB #26 – Books & Fun

Posted on August 14, 2015 by fundinmental

Please include the title of the book and the author’s name.

~~~~~~

I have tried to come up with a way to make things simpler for myself when it comes to choosing my next novel to share. This is what I have come up with.

I am starting with the first author on *this* bookshelf and…

now I am moving on to The Trench by Steve Alten

I have read numerous books by Steve Alten and revel in his creature features.

The Trench by Steve Alten

Add me to Goodreads now.

MY FRIDAY 56

The damage began ten feet down…Jonas knew it would only be a matter of time until the joints were torn free. Once the first few went, the rest would follow quickly.

The ampullae of Lorenzini. The predator was zooming in on the faint electrical field given off by his pounding heart.

(page 56 of a hardcover)

MY BOOK BEGINNINGS

Retired Navy deep-sea pilot Barry Leace wiped the sweat from his palms as he checked the depth indicator of the Proteus. Thirty-found thousand seven hundred and eighteen feet. Nearly seven miles of water above their heads, sixteen thousand pounds per square inch of water pressure surrounding them.

SYNOPSIS

Its appetite is ravenous. Its teeth scalpel-sharp. Its power unstoppable as it smashes the steel doors holding it in a Monterey Aquarium. For the first time, the captive twenty-ton Megalodon shark has tasted human blood, and it wants more. On the other side of the world, in the silent depths of the ocean, lies the Marianas Trench, where the Megalodon has spawned since the dawn of time. Paleo-biologist Jonas Taylor once dared to enter this perilous cavern. He alone faced a MEG and cut its heart out. He still wears the painful scars of that encounter. Now, as the body count rises and the horror of a monster’s attack grips the California coast, Jonas must begin the hunt again. But to do that means returning to the dark terror of the trench…where the MEG is waiting. Using himself as bait, Jonas will enter the ultimate battle–a fight to he death between man and beast in the darkest recesses of the ocean, and a fight for sanity from the depths of this own tormented soul.

I love covers!

What does this one say to you?

~~~~~~~~~~~~

To see all my Reviews, go HERE.

To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.

If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?

Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.

If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.

Thanks for visiting fundinmental!