S: A to Z Blogging Challenge

For my 2016 A to Z Challenge, I’m sharing three facts for each letter. The genres I write and love to read are mostly science fiction and high or epic fantasy. In fantasy, there is often magic associated with crystals or metals. They also used herbs both for medicine and for magical spells. Each day I will post a short description of an herb or a mineral you might find in medieval or fantasy writings. For the record, most of the herbal remedies I’ve investigated are not recommended by the FDA. Many are actually poisonous and dangerous. As tribute to my second love, I will post a scientific fact that may deal with physics, biology or health science. And because another name for a writer is wordsmith, each day I’ll share a strange word that I would probably never use in my writing, but that amuse me in some way. So enjoy my trio of quick facts. And don’t forget to visit the IWSG site where we’ll share a writer’s resource for every day of the challenge.

Sciolist: A person who pretends to be a scholar. An intellectual fake.

Salt is used for purification and protection. If you've ever watched the TV show, Supernatural, you know to always have some salt handy.

Solar Energy. No matter how you feel about this, the facts are that enough sunlight strikes the Earth in one hour to provide all the power the entire planet needs for one year. If humanity were to build a solar farm of 25,000 square miles in the desert area of North Africa, we would need no other energy sources. Wow! See how small that area could be on the map below.

And a little bonus for today. Congrats to Chrys Fey.

Bonus S: SEISMIC CRIMES

Today is the release of Chrys Fey's first novel!

BLURB:

An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion

consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.

When a tip reveals the killer's location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

DIGITAL LINKS:

Amazon / Barnes & Noble / KOBO / The Wild Rose Press

ALSO AVAILABLE IN PRINT!

Why do you think humanity won't work together to make solar energy happen? Do you know a sciolist? Do you keep salt handy to ward off ghosts or only to use on your food? Ready for Chrys' book with lots of aftershocks?