Fixing The Normal/Paragraph Setting Issue That Plagued Me

 

Everyone following me knows how this has plagued me but I'll give a quick re-cap of exactly what the issue was before I say how I resolved it, at least as a temporary fix until Blogger sort it. Now when you look up above, you will see the setting is on PARAGRAPH, with a drop down menu. Paragraph will automatically insert a double spacing for you, which is fine when doing a blog post as it gives you natural paragraphs. It isn't always what I want though. 

Let me use the example of a book review. I put up the photo then paste the Goodreads blurb under it for everyone to see. Then I change the text colour and write 'My Review' in black, to let people know I am now starting my comments. I DO NOT leave a gap between that heading and the following text. Don't ask me why but I like it to look this way...

My Review:
Paddington gets himself into a few pickles this time. He is selected to be an usher at Harold's wedding but nobody explains what it means so he is giving out hard stares to anyone in the congregation, thinking he has to 'ush them!

Rather than this way...

My Review:

Paddington gets himself into a few pickles this time. He is selected to be an usher at Harold's wedding but nobody explains what it means so he is giving out hard stares to anyone in the congregation, thinking he has to 'ush them!

My issue is that when I press and try to select normal from the drop down menu, an option which eliminates the gap between heading and text, it refuses to change. I can battle it for ages to get it to relent as I did yesterday, but today it just refused to change at all so I had a rant on Twitter about it. I've tried deleting to remove the gap but it just puts the text up beside My Review. I tried messing about with the code but that was a failure too. Nothing worked. I was thinking that the only solution was to write or alter the post elsewhere then move the post to final position on the blog. But where? I struggle using these office documents where you set tabs and margins and all that caper. And then I remembered my Goodreads Group. Could I move the text there, alter it and bring it back fixed?

YES I COULD! I copied the unfixed text with gaps and chose a random comment box under a post I had already written. Instead of publishing it, I quickly removed the offending gaps so that the post text looked the way I wanted it. I copied it then pasted the corrected part into the post where I wanted it back on the blog and BINGO! Problem solved! After that I just deleted the text from the comment box on Goodreads and went back to the blog to publish the completed post. Now I can actually just go to my Group, construct the whole text there and then put it straight onto the blog post without battling the stupid paragraph setting. I can use paragraph to put the gap in between my copy of the blurb and where my text needs to start and then just put my corrected text in there, preview and publish. 

OK so what do you do if you don't have a Goodreads group set up to use? Go to your Goodreads profile page and scroll down to your wall, y'know, where friends can leave comments for you? Construct your post (or alter it to sort out the mistakes using the method I mention above), in the blank comments box, then instead of posting the finished text, copy and paste it to your blog, and just delete the now unneeded text in the comment box. 

OK it doesn't fix the Blogger issue but until they do fix it, it gives a hassle free solution to get round it. It might help me speed up things on the blog and get back to normal, whatever normal is these days. It is at least a kind of fix for right now.

*Wipes brow in relief*

Book Review: Paddington Goes To Town by Michael Bond (Paddington Bear #8)

Paddington has warmed the hearts of generations of readers with his earnest good intentions and humorous misadventures. This brand-new paper-over-board edition of the classic novel contains the original text by Michael Bond and illustrations by Peggy Fortnum.

Paddington doesn’t intentionally turn his friend’s wedding into an uproar by getting the wedding ring stuck on his paw. Nor does he plan for Mr. Curry to slip on his marmalade sandwich in the middle of an important golf shot. But these sorts of things and more just happen when Paddington goes to town.

My Review:
Paddington gets himself into a few pickles this time. He is selected to be an usher at Harold's wedding but nobody explains what it means so he is giving out hard stares to anyone in the congregation, thinking he has to 'ush them! It leads to more disaster when he puts the ring on his paw for safe keeping and can't get it off again! He also makes a fatal mistake in agreeing to be caddy for Mr Curry in a golfing competition and his antics end up with another hospital visit. Poor Paddington also manages to get lost in the hospital at visiting time and almost causes a psychiatrist to have his own breakdown trying to deal with him as a patient. He does also manage to stop a bit of acting up by Mr Curry to the delight of the hospital staff.

Paddington cannot seem to do even the simple things without getting himself into a mess. Helping Mr Gruber with his patio turns out to be a lot easier than getting involved in a bit of door to door carol singing for charity, as Paddington somehow gets roped into being a chef at a Christmas party and trying his paw at making Baked Alaska, which he has never heard of, so he makes it up as he goes along in true Paddington style! 

 

I laughed a lot at Paddington's hospital visit. Why doesn't the silly bear just ASK where to find the ward he is looking for? Why did he not have that information from the Browns? Why would he expect a receptionist to just know where Mr Curry was when Paddington never even said he was a patient and she assumed Mr Curry was a doctor! Paddington playing that opposites game with the doctor was so funny, especially when he doesn't realise that the game is over and keeps going! I also loved the Baked Elastic escapade! That poor bear isn't the sharpest tool in the box but I blame the humans for not explaining everything to him well enough and leaving him unattended in places where he can get into trouble.

Another excellent Paddington adventure!

Read July 2020
4 stars

Top Ten Tuesday-Ten Horror Books With Dangerous Trips #2

 

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

NB: I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow them to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. 

Since it's October, I'll go with a horror theme and ten books I want to read that feature dangerous trips, part 2!

1) Jason Deyo-Winter's Salvation

Machinery Technician Third Class Eric Hagen of the U.S. Coast Guard abandons his post out of Jacksonville, Florida, after his whole world is transformed. The streets are teeming with crazed people, possessed by an insatiable appetite for human flesh. He soon learns that these manic people are not what they appear—they are undead. Traveling north in a post-apocalyptic world, Eric leads a team of four to Baltimore, Maryland, in search of his family, and in the process forms a family of his own. The cold winter months provide some relief from the undead, but Eric soon realizes that dangers from within his newly-formed family are just as deadly as the perils outside.

 

2) Aaron Dries-A Place For Sinners

The Collins siblings backpack through the jungles of Thailand, drink and dance in Bangkok, accumulating friends. There is laughter, budding love, delicious risk. Amity has never felt more awed. Or alive. Everything changes when they purchase boat tickets to a tourist trap the locals call Bastard Island. ‘Discover paradise,’ the advertisement reads. ‘Come and feed the monkeys!’ But there on that remote beach, surrounded by people Amity doesn’t know or trust, the trees twitch as though impatient or hungry. From within those shadows, savagery is about to be unleashed. The tide of teeth is near. Those sands will run red. And on Bastard Island, even survival is a sin.

 

3) Russ Elliott-Pliosaur

Archaeologist John Paxton has always been eluded by the great find. But his luck is about to change on a mysterious island near South Africa, where he seeks a rare prehistoric fish. Deep inside the caves, John finds more than he bargained for. He encounters the tribal elder, Kota-practically the devil himself with a plan straight from hell. Within the caverns beneath the island, the tribe worships and nurtures a prehistoric marine reptile that could engulf T. rex. The size of a sperm whale, and equipped with ten-foot jaws bristling with eighteen-inch teeth, this pliosaur is the last remaining member of the greatest predator species that ever lived. Only then does John realize Kota's true agenda-to unleash the leviathan on the modern world to fulfill the tribe's bloodlust for revenge. Now it's all up to John to warn humanity of the fifty-ton killing machine headed its way-before the Ivory Coast washes blood red. But first, he has to get off the island . . . alive.

 

4) Gerry Griffiths-The Beasts Of Stoneclad Mountain

Clay Morgan is overjoyed when he is offered a place to live in a remote wilderness at the base of a notorious mountain. Locals say there are Bigfoot living high up in the dense mountainous forest. Clay is skeptic at first and thinks it’s nothing more than tall tales. But soon Clay becomes a believer when giant creatures invade his new home and snatch his baby boy, Casey. Now, Clay and his wife, Mia, must rescue their son with the help of Clay’s uncle and his dog, a journey up the foreboding mountain that will take them into an unimaginable world…straight into hell!

 

5) Ben Hammott-Horror Island

Almost sixty years after it was abandoned by the mysterious movie director, Ezra Houghton, successful horror writer Zane Baloc comes into possession of the remote and infamous Horror Island. Believing it will provide the perfect inspiration for a new horror novel, he wastes no time gathering a small team together to travel to the island to investigate. He plans to spend a few weeks there soaking up the atmosphere and exploring the extravagant horror themed movie sets Ezra spent seven years creating. Stranded miles from help, the team soon discover they are not alone and the rumours of strange, unearthly creatures inhabiting the island are more than just a myth. Their mission of exploration and wonderment turns into a bloody fight for survival against the island’s monstrous inhabitants. Stranded on the island filled with fear inspiring buildings and vicious, alien infected monsters, survival will be difficult. Escape unlikely.

 

6) David Haynes-Black Pine Creek

Gold is all Scott Draper knows. Gold and darkness. A lifetime of mining has broken his life, estranged him from his daughter and left two dead men behind. One last opportunity might turn things around – an abandoned mine in the icy Alaskan wilderlands. If he can bring his old crew together to help, they could all end up rich. Draper knows that darkness always follows the gold. What he doesn’t know is that something even darker than his past, something nightmarish and ravenous, is waiting for them all in the shadows of Black Pine Creek.

 

7) Alister Hodge-The Cavern

When a sink hole opens up near the Australian outback town of Pintalba, it uncovers a pristine cave system. Sam joins an expedition to explore the subterranean passages as paramedic support, hoping to remain unneeded at base camp. But, when one of the cavers is injured, he must overcome paralysing claustrophobia to dive pitch-black waters and squeeze through the bowels of the earth. Soon he will find there are fates worse than being buried alive, for in the abandoned mines and caves beneath Pintalba, there are ravenous teeth in the dark. As a savage predator targets the group with hideous ferocity, Sam and his friends must fight for their lives if they are ever to see the sun again.

 

8) Ahimsa Kerp-Beneath The Mantle

Stuart Holmes is a travel blogger from Canada on his way to Antarctica. When his ship gets trapped in ice and buried by a mysterious fog, he and several others hike to a nearby island to radio for help. They never make it. Instead the four of them flee the murderous ice and descend into a deep cave where they discover an entire new world, replete with strange statues, abandoned cities, man-eating plants, giant terrestrial birds, foreboding monoliths, and brutal mega-fauna long since extinct on the surface of the Earth.

 

9) SJ Larsson-Great White Death

A group of marine biologists head off on an expedition to study sea lions on a remote Pacific Island. But no one is prepared for this particular trip because in the waters around the island lurks Great White Death, a great white shark of epic proportions. As a huge storm rolls in the group find themselves in a desperate fight for survival as one by one they meet a brutal death. Great White Death is a deep sea thriller filled with action, mayhem, and a savage shark with a primeval instinct to kill.

 

10) Tim Lebbon-The Cabin In The Woods

Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know the story, think again.

A Killer Halloween Book Tag

 

I couldn't find any Halloween horror tags that suited me this year so I'm constructing my own! Feel free to join in but please credit me in your post and link back here. Enjoy! 

My books are all going to have a horror flavour to them and all books I've read but you can use any book or series that fits the prompt. You don't need to love horror to join in and I've tried to make each prompt as open as possible for people. You can use books you've read or make it a list of books you really want to read.

1) Jason Vorhees (Friday the 13th)

A book that has several sequels or features a disfunctional family. 

In the Florida Everglades, a war between two families is about to erupt into violence. The Roys are a bunch of psychopaths who love violence and cruelty, and a group of tourists in the wrong place at the wrong time are about to be part of their worst nightmares along with the family that the Roys want revenge on.

 

 

2) Cropsy (The Burning)

A book connected to fire ie fire/smoke title, red/orange/yellow cover, fire plot, dragons.  

A deadly form of Ebola turns humans into zombie-like creatures, starting an apocalypse. The science community unite to try to find a deadly pathogen to kill the mutants before they destroy mankind...but matters only get worse. Now the military have to gather their resources to fight the monster menace.

 

3) Jigsaw (Saw)

A book that features a game or challenge ie sport, maze, game show, quest, tasks. 

In front of a TV audience, if you can survive the trudge across the Valley and are first to reach the exit gate, you win your freedom from the crime you were jailed for. The only problem is, the Valley is full of dangerous dinosaurs and you don't know if you can trust your team not to sacrifice you to win.

 

4) Michael Myers (Halloween)

A book with a seasonal/special celebration or family gathering/friend reunion.

It's the Halloween carnival and everyone enters the funhouse. Each room has wax images depicting a horror scene but once the door closes, you are transported to a real life version of that horror scene. If you survive that room, you go on to the next room but only when all rooms have been visited can you actually leave...maybe!

 

5) The Wishmaster (The Wishmaster)

A book with a magical/paranormal theme or a wish/dream is granted or turns sour.

A return of a game that nobody won gets people talking and a desperate man whose family all have cancer is intrigued by the prize-anything you want, including the cure only the rich can get. He joins other people with similar hopes and dreams of new starts to enter the game zone-a landscape filled with dinosaurs where only one can claim the prize.

 

6) Ben Willis (I Know What You Did Last Summer)

A book with a theme of revenge ie stalking, blackmail, poison pen letters, threats. 

A magician is jailed for a death during a magic trick on the word of local children who witnessed it. Now 24 years later, the man is out of prison and determined to get revenge on those who put him away.

 

7) Freddy Kruger (A Nightmare On Elm Street)

A book with a night theme ie insomnia, night creatures, nightmares, sleepwalking, crime scene. 

Denise and her fellow hunters go to an island to bag rare and exotic creatures for a company. During the day the hunters battle each other for the big cash prize, resorting even to killing each other to get it. But when the moon comes up, the island grows scarier than they could ever imagine and the monsters are bigger and deadlier...

 

8) Angela Baker (Sleepaway Camp)

A book with an urban myth or camp theme ie summer camp, camping holiday, caravan, hiking.

Camp Blaze has a bloody history including a boy sacrificed by an evil cult. Now a figure hides in the shadows, killing the staff at the camp one by one. Regina has to try and keep everyone safe until morning when they can try to escape but can they survive a night of terror?

 

9) Candyman (Candyman)

A book with a sweet theme/cover or urban myth ie food/drink, food shop, cookbook. 

A man on a climb of Everest to honour a loved one becomes concerned about strange events that seem to follow his group on their trek-and the locals blame the Yeti for it. Zack is about to discover that the Death Zone on the mountain has more to be scared of than he ever thought.

 

  

10) Harry Warden (My Bloody Valentine)

A book with a memorable romance, love triangle or doomed relationship.

Elise and her kids are trying to find a safe haven from mutant underground creatures that hunt the living and seem to be adapting to become smarter every day. At the compound there will be a chance to research and maybe cure the creatures and form new human relationships. But as the creatures are adapting, they are becoming more deadly.

 

11) Leatherface (Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

A book with a mask theme ie disguise, hidden identity, disfigurement, theatre, face covering.

Two rival firms are in a race to provide commercial trips to the Moon, and have persuaded experts to come and test out their trip. Mechanical issues mean lengthy repairs once there but the large underground worm monsters are going to be a bigger problem.

 

12) Victor Crowley (Hatchet)

A book with a special trip or expedition ie caves, cavern, swamp tour, adventure holiday, dig. 

A research experiment is underway to lead sharks away from popular beach areas by attracting their food source away. A special signal leads the seals out to a group of islands with the sharks in pursuit. But a mixture of bad weather, boat problems and environmental activists leads to survivors being stranded as the water level rises and the sharks move in.

 

13) Pennywise (It)

A book featuring summer event ie carnival, circus, theme park, fete, holiday, party.

The Adventureland carnival has come to an English town but trouble comes with it. A young child goes missing and his frantic mother is determined to find him. Two teenagers see their friends murdered on the Ghost Train but nobody will believe them. An evil entity is on the loose and only those teenagers have the weapons to stop it-but it won't go without a fight.

 

14) The Creeper (Jeepers Creepers)

A book with an animal or creature with an enhanced sense of smell.

An underwater shark park has opened for a preview with selected guests but a storm hits and damages the property, leading to mass flooding and sharks loose in the tunnel complex. Can the survivors get through the park to safety before the sharks take them all?

 

15) Pinhead (Hellraiser)

A book with a puzzle, crime or mystery to solve or something to cure/fix/alter.

The zombie apocalypse has been unleashed and only a cure can save those left. Special forces and military units from the UK and US work together to stop outbreaks, rescue scientists, gather resources and go on dangerous trips to get whatever is required. Civilians and military alike do what they can to defeat the zombies.

 

16) Fate/Death (Final Destination)

A book featuring death.

Dracula has been murdered and those he has sired are gathered together for an investigation. But someone is determined to kill all the vampires and have set traps through the house, where daylight keeps the vampires trapped. Can they survive the killer until night falls?

 

17) The Evil Dead

A book where an MC undergoes a transformation of some kind. 

A rich man gets hold of a relic that will change him into a monster. When he dies in the ER he is reborn into the deadliest of vampires and begins a rampage of evil and infection through the hospital of a small. sleepy town.

 

18) Chucky (Child's Play)

A book partially set in the past/connected to childhood ie dual timeline, flashbacks, set in the past.

Seven children battle a shapeshifting clown that can become whatever they fear most and is killing children. Adults are ignoring the issue so the children battle It alone. Now those children are adults and are being called back to Derry to battle the monster which has risen again.

 

19) Ghostface (Scream)

A book set in a small town/community or where curfew/quarantine/stakeout takes place.

A small town faces a night of terror when enhanced super soldiers enter it to find someone-and they will kill everyone they encounter or torture them for the information that they need. A handful of locals find themselves trying to keep one step ahead of the killers and find the home of a local prepper where they may stand a chance.

 

20) Umbrella Corporation (Resident Evil)

A book where authority gets it wrong ie test subjects escape, riots, uprisings, plague.

Deadly monsters escape from a test facility on Plum Island and head out to sea, coming ashore in waves to attack the town residents, A simple scratch infects you with infection that melts you from the inside, or a full attack will leave you mauled and dead. Local cops and animal specialists team up to try and kill the monsters.

 

 

The Best Shark Books #1

SHARK! Since being scared crapless by Jaws as a young kid, I developed a total obsession with sharks. I love the books and films, and non fiction and documentaries about shark attacks. Here are some great shark books to add to your collection.

1) Chris Jameson-Shark Island

Naomi Cardiff is not one to give up without a fight and now, after learning about a series of shark attacks in Cape Cod, she s joined a team of scientists to put a stop to the terror. The plan: to lure the sharks to a remote island far from the populated coastline. Meanwhile, a fierce Nor Easter is underway. . .In the midst of the storm, an alarming number of Great Whites have come to slaughter the seals in a vicious feeding frenzy. When sharks ram and breach the hull, Naomi and her team must jump ship and swim desperately through a sea of circling fins and gaping jaws to the tiny island. But as the swells from the storm begin to swallow their rocky refuge, how will they manage to make it out alive?

2) PK Hawkins-Shark

For Simon, the trip was supposed to be a once in a lifetime gift: a journey to the Amazon River Basin, the land that he had dreamed about visiting since he was a child. His enthusiasm for the trip may be tempered by the poor conditions of the boat and their captain leading the tour, but most of the tourists think they can look the other way on it. Except things go wrong quickly. After a horrific accident, Simon and the other tourists find themselves trapped on a tiny island in the middle of the river. It's the rainy season, and the river is rising. The island is surrounded by hungry bull sharks that won't let them swim away. And worst of all, the sharks might not be the only blood-thirsty killers among them.

3) Rick Chesler-Hotel Megalodon

An underwater luxury hotel on a gorgeous tropical island is set for an extravagant opening weekend with the world watching. The only thing standing in the way of a first-rate experience for the jet-setting VIPs is an unscrupulous businessman and sixty feet of prehistoric shark. As the underwater complex is besieged by a marauding behemoth, newly minted marine biologist Coco Keahi must face off against the ancient predator as it rises from the deep with a vengeance. Meanwhile, a human monster has decided he would be better off if Coco were one of the creature’s victims.

4) Greig Beck-Fathomless

Baranof Island, Gulf of Alaska, 1952. Jim Granger is searching for a place of legend. Known as ‘Bad Water’ by the island’s elders, it’s reputed to be home to many dangerous creatures. Through a seam in a cliff face, Jim finds what he seeks. He also finds, too late, that the water demon he was warned about is horrifyingly real. Today, Cate Granger is following in her grandfather’s footsteps. Along with a team of scientists and crew, she accidentally releases a creature from Earth’s primordial past into today’s oceans. The giant Megalodon shark follows its instinct and a genetic memory of a home that once existed millions of years ago along the Californian coast. Nothing is safe on or below the water as the monster stakes its claim on the world’s oceans.

5) SJ Larsson-Megalodon Apex Predator

English adventurer Sir Jeffery Mallory charters a ship for a top secret expedition to Antarctica. What starts out as a search and capture mission soon turns into a terrifying fight for survival as the crew come face to face with the fiercest ocean predator to have ever existed - Carcharodon Megalodon. Alone and with no hope of rescue the crew will need all their resources if they are to survive not only a 60 foot shark but also the harsh Antarctic conditions.

6) Paul Mannering-Hell's Teeth

In the cold South Pacific waters off the coast of New Zealand, a team of divers and scientists are preparing for three days in a specially designed habitat 1300 feet below the surface. In this alien and savage world, the mysterious great white sharks gather to hunt and to breed. When the dive team’s only link to the surface is destroyed, they find themselves in a desperate battle for survival. With the air running out, and no hope of rescue, they must use their wits to survive against sharks, each other, and a terrifying nightmare of legend. 

7) Carolyn McCray-Salechii

Salechii: A Shark Park is supposed to be all about learning to respect and protect sharks, however after a Level-5 Hurricane hits and the sharks get out of their pens, the only lesson learned is how fast can you swim?

8) J Kent Messum-Bait

No one is coming to your aid. We have ensured this. Six strangers wake up on a remote island in the Florida Keys with no memory of their arrival. They soon discover their common bond: all of them are heroin addicts. As the first excruciating pangs of withdrawal make themselves felt, the six notice a yacht anchored across open water. On it lurk four shadowy figures, protected by the hungry sharks that patrol the waves. So begins a dangerous game. The six must undertake the impossible—swim to the next island where a cache of heroin awaits, or die trying. When alliances form, betrayal is inevitable. As the fight to survive intensifies, the stakes reach terrifying heights—and their captors’ motives finally begin to emerge.

9) John Lee Schneider-Surface Prey

Twenty miles off the coast of San Francisco, this small chain of islands hosts a yearly migration of seals... and during this time of year, the sharks are here too – the biggest, hungriest Great Whites in the world. Attempting to swim off these shores is attempted suicide. Colin Mason – wealthy, connected – with one leg bitten off by a white shark in these very same waters – now hosts his own yearly event – a marathon swim through the Great White-infested Farallons. The prize is a million dollars – winner takes all. How much is your life worth?

10) TR Schumer-Death Catch

Alex Moss is a former U. S. Navy SEAL, and a veteran of two wars, but the enemy he is about to face is like nothing he could have ever imagined. Moss thought he’d settled comfortably into a life at sea, and a second career far removed from the battlegrounds of his past. He commands Fearless, one of the world's premier scientific research vessels. Along with his hand-picked crew of special operations forces veterans, Moss now assists in the advancement of marine science, but a dark force has been unleashed aboard his ship— a force that threatens to kill them all...Dr. Thomas Falcon is a highly respected and widely published shark biologist with a powerful, and ancient, family history he knows almost nothing about. When Falcon's best friend and colleague, the gifted shark researcher Dr. Peter Marsh, invites him to join his scientific expedition aboard the privately funded research vessel Fearless, Falcon jumps at the chance. But once Dr. Falcon arrives on board, history will catch up with him when he unwittingly triggers violent events, and awakens an unspeakable evil...