{"id":4959,"date":"2011-09-30T09:05:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T09:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lbpost.com\/articles\/life\/updated-with-exerpts-local-author-releases-eighth-book-set-in-long-beach\/"},"modified":"2011-09-30T09:05:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-30T09:05:00","slug":"updated-with-exerpts-local-author-releases-eighth-book-set-in-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/updated-with-exerpts-local-author-releases-eighth-book-set-in-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"UPDATED WITH EXERPTS: Local Author Releases Eighth Book, Set in Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

9:50am | <\/strong>Barbara Ardinger, author of Secret Lives<\/em>, has provided the Long Beach Post <\/em>with two excerpts from her novel, set in the historic Rose Park neighborhood of Long Beach.<\/p>\n

From Chapter 1 of Secret Lives<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

Two of the women have barely avoided being attacked on the street by gang members. They perform a ritual to help protect their neighborhood of Rose Park. <\/em><\/p>\n

As the chanting and drumming grew to their howling, screeching climax, Herta stood up. She reached out with both hands as if to grasp the power, and she focused it on the covered basket on the teacart before her. <\/p>\n

The chant peaked, an orgasmic release of energy skirring around the circle, an incandescent elemental energy\u2014 <\/p>\n

There! Herta caught the almost visible power in her hands and flung it into the basket with all the force she and the circle now embodied. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is done.\u201d <\/p>\n

Silence now. <\/p>\n

Breathing heavily, some of them still swaying, the women sat for many moments with their eyes closed. Herta sat with closed eyes, too, feeling the energy return to ground, feeling it flow back to its source. <\/p>\n

\u201cGirls,\u201d she said at last, \u201cwe\u2019ve done it. We have empowered our guardian. \u2026 As you all know, under the full moon in Cancer, I prepared a small nest in a box. I built it upon agate and jasper for strength and protection, upon petrified wood for transformation and great age, upon obsidian for grounded fire. I lined this small nest with the molted skin of a snake for rebirth, with bears\u2019 claws and sharks\u2019 teeth for ferocity, with owls\u2019 feathers for swift and silent flight. I prepared this nest for three fresh eggs, laid on the day of the dark moon. One egg I painted white, one red, the third, black. Now we will see which egg hatches. And what hatches. We have birthed our avenger.\u201d <\/p>\n

She gestured toward the teacart. \u201cListen.\u201d <\/p>\n

They heard pecking and scratching, the splintering of an eggshell, the familiar sounds of hatching. And then unfamiliar sounds \u2026 a harsh bark, a cough, a rough hiss. <\/p>\n

Herta lifted the large oval basket that covered the nest. \u201cLook.\u201d <\/p>\n

There it lay, a box lined with gold cloth that cradled a bed of stones and a nest lined with snakeskin and claws and teeth and feathers. Two of the eggs lay intact, unfertilized, unhatched. But the black shell lay in pieces. <\/p>\n

And sitting on the edge of the nest was a tiny, green, four-footed animal, its pale golden wings still plastered damply against its scaly sides. Its golden eyes were barely open. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur guardian. A creature as old as the heavens, as fierce as the fiery powers of earth.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cDraco,\u201d said Cairo. \u201cThe dragon. Symbol in the eldest times of the pole star.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe dragon,\u201d said Brooke, \u201cis older than humankind. And contrary to the teachings of men, it is not an evil creature. It is not an adversary that must be slain. The dragon is the all-powerful guardian of wisdom. Here is our fierce-flying avenger.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

From Chapter 2 of Secret Lives<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cAha, my pretty one,\u201d cackled the hag in the pointed hat. \u201cI\u2019ve got you now! You\u2019re in my power. You\u2019re mine, mine, mine!\u201d Still cackling, she held her squirming captive up close and peered at it until she was satisfied with what she saw. Then she smiled fiercely and set the animal back on the counter, keeping one gnarled hand on its back. <\/p>\n

A youngish man in faded chinos and a washed-out University Accounting Team sweatshirt approached. \u201cOh, Aunt Bertha, here you are,\u201d he said mildly, looking around the pet shop. Three or four suburban mothers had backed away, pulling their toddlers with them. \u201cStop cackling,\u201d he added. \u201cYou\u2019ll scare the children.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cPhooey,\u201d Bertha replied. \u201cWendell, you know kids don\u2019t get scared. Their mothers get a little spooked, though.\u201d She whirled to face one such mother, an anorectic young thing standing near the firmly-lidded piranha tank. The mother pulled her Ralph Lauren skirt and sweater set closer to her body. As the old woman gave her a cheek-splitting grin, she inched around the tank, then reached back to yank her four-year-old son after her. \u201cStanley,\u201d she said, trying to interest him in a school of guppies cavorting in formation in another tank, \u201clook at all these pretty fishies.\u201d Stanley pulled back toward the piranhas. <\/p>\n

\u201cBoo!\u201d The witch clapped her hands and there was a minor tsunami in the guppy tank. <\/p>\n

Wendell had a sudden coughing fit, the mother fled to the safety of the next aisle, and young Stanley squatted under the piranha tank like a miniature granite idol. What would this weird old lady with the purple hair do next? <\/p>\n

\u201cYou really shouldn\u2019t act out,\u201d Wendell said after he\u2019d stopped coughing. \u201cAnd you coulda got arrested for taking that hat from the costume shop. Luckily, I was able to convince the manager that you\u2019re merely senile. He let me pay for it.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cAttaboy.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fetching, though. Goes with the cackle. Is this another Margaret Hamilton period coming on? Do we get green skin again?\u201d <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

September 29, 12:30pm | <\/strong>Local Long Beach author Barbara Ardinger has released her eighth novel, Secret Lives<\/em>, set in Long Beach\u2019s historic Rose Park neighborhood. The novel tells of the adventures in a year in the lives of a circle of magical women, old and young.
 
Secret Lives is  described as the author as “big novel about big issues\u2014aging and death, the way our society treats its senior citizens, women\u2019s friendships, the powers of love, the theory and practice of magic, the rebirth of the Goddess and Her ancient religion. It\u2019s about the untidy mysteries of human life.”
 
Those interested are invited to view and print the free Reader’s Guide on Barbara\u2019s website<\/a>, There is also a Facebook page<\/a> for Secret Lives<\/em>.
 
Ardinger holds a Ph.D. in English Renaissance literature and works as a freelance book editor for inexperienced authors. She has been a Long Beach resident since 1996 and has lived in three neighborhoods. She is an active member of the North Alamitos Beach Neighborhood Association (NABA), and is a CERT volunteer. She has taught classes in writing and public speaking at local universities and community colleges, but says she prefers being self-employed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local Long Beach author Barbara Ardinger has released her eighth novel, Secret Lives, set in Long Beach\u2019s historic Rose Park neighborhood. The novel tells of the adventures in a year in the lives of a circle of magical women, old and young. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":69922,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-4959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4959\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4959"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=4959"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=4959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}