You can learn more about this contest and company at http://www.necrwa.org/

AC Katt and her novel, Shattered Glass have won 1st place in the Erotic Category of the 2011 New England Reader’s Choice Bean Pot Award

More information about the award along with an image of it to come soon.

Get your copy of this award winning novel at Placida Publishing

http://placidapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=18_28&products_id=19

It was supposed to be all about “jobs.” That promise made to voters before the November 2010 election has been largely ignored by the new Republican Congress, state legislators and governors.

Instead the agenda pursued by the Republican Party has concentrated on the so-called culture wars. There have been bills introduced in Congress to reduce the availability of abortion, despite Roe v Wade being the law of the land. The new budget introduced by the Republicans actually kills jobs by cutting discretionary spending.  Instead of closing loopholes for oil depletion allowances and Big Agriculture, they restricted money to Planned Parenthood.  Then, they go off on vacation.

In the state capitols, the record of the newly elected Republican again has not served the American Worker. In Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker, thinking he was speaking to David Koch, one of the infamous Koch brothers of oil, gas and chemical fame, told him that he was thinking about seeding the crowd protesting his attempt at Union Busting with outside agitators to make the so-far peaceful protesters look like hooligans.  Governor Walker intimated that with a little extra support (read dollars), governors of other states would follow the same agenda.

That, my friends, is trading worker’s collective bargaining rights for campaign cash, a straight forward transaction.  And who is he selling down the river, YOU. By denying collective bargaining rights to workers in these hard times, he denies those rights for future workers in good times.

If your congressperson, senator, state representative or governor is acting in a similar unscrupulous manner and following an agenda that does nothing to produce the promised jobs, maybe it is time for a recall petition.

Mary Lynn Hansel
Writing As AC Katt

Author of The Sarran Plague, A Matter of Trust and Shattered Glass

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Latest tweet: Cold outside? Curl up with a good book, Shattered Glass by AC Katt. Available at www.captivapress.com& Amazon in print and e- formats. Follow @ackatt Reply Retweet 09:48 Feb-22

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The Ubiquitous Bureaucrat…

Today I heard the Governor of Wisconsin, Tom Walker take cheap shots at state and local bureaucrats.  This is nothing strange.  Most of us have an “attitude” regarding government workers. Most of us forget who exactly government workers are and what they do.

State and municipal employees include the teachers who man our schools, the policemen who guard public safety. Who jumps into a burning building to rescue your family – a fireman, a municipal employee.

Who clears your roads, collects your garbage, works in the public hospitals, visits a home a crisis – sanitation workers, nurses, aides, health technicians, social workers, all state and municipal employees.

We, the general public, are very quick to notice when a public servant doesn’t do what we pay them to do. However, where are we when are public servants are fighting for a reasonable school budget to educate our kids, decent wages and benefits for school teachers.  We blame the teachers in the United States for the malaise that has hit our schools, yet, we refuse to spend the money to recruit the best and brightest for those positions and dismiss their requests for a living wage.  In truth, most anyone who goes into government service, just like our armed forces on a national level, get paid less than their contemporaries in private industry.  Yet we expect to draw from that same pool of college graduates competing with private industry for their service.

The same applies for nurses, nurse’s aides, and hospital techs. Public hospitals pay less and demand more.

We never remark when our municipal employees do a fabulous job, we always comment when they screw up.  This winter the huge accumulation of snow up and down the east coast caused overburdened sanitation departments to fail to clean up the streets in what the public considered to be an appropriate time frame.  The public did not consider that this was a centennial snow event, they only considered that  their cars were block and the streets weren’t clear.  They also never thought about the cutbacks in municipal service that helped to balance the budget.

Half the parents in this nation don’t attend teacher conferences for their children, Back to School Night, nor a single PTA meeting.  They place the whole of the educational burden on the school system, ie the teacher.  They will shake their fist at municipal meetings whining that their children are undereducated, yet they will not pay the price to hire and keep decent teachers and give those teachers a budget that enables a spectacular education.  I’m often amused when they compare the number of dollars that the US spends per student in comparison to other countries.  Other countries do not have our cost of living. When we demand to have our children educated to be the best in the world we should remember that we must agree to pay for it.

We make demands of all of our municipal employees.  On average they are overworked and severely unpaid.  Now the Republican Right in Wisconsin are busy union busting.  This is on behalf of the infamous Koch brothers again.  No one noticed that they went all out to support Governor Walker who proposed this claptrap in Wisconsin, now they got their payback.  Business received millions of dollars in tax breaks as soon as Governor Walker entered office (payback for the Koch brothers support) now, the Governor wants to take that money out of the pockets of the largely middle class government workers.

Shame on Governor Walker, shame on all of us.  We want top notch service, but

refuse to pay for it.  We let people who do not have our interests at heart lead us down a road of less, less, less for the average taxpayer and more, more, more for bigbusiness.  When are we going to stop leading with our chin.

Please stop by my publisher, Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com to purchase my books, Shattered Glass and the soon to be re-released The Sarran Plague.  My books are also for sale at www.amazon.com in both Kindle and print editions.  The good folks at www.allromancebooks.com also carry my titles. To learn more about The Sarrans stop in at www.thesarrans.com.  For more on Shattered Glass try www.shattered-glass.com.

In this scene from my novel Shattered Glass Milo’s unreasonable jealousy fed by drummer Bart Hedge led to an argument with Liam.  What follows is Milo’s apology and Liam’s reaction.


“Milo, we’ve had this discussion before. He’s no longer jailbait. What’s wrong with being with
the guy you love?”


“Everyone will know. It wouldn’t be good for the band.”


“Milo, Elton John is openly gay and it hasn’t affected his record sales. For Christ’s sake, he
does work for Disney. It’s not the band, Milo, it’s you. You have been fighting what you are for years
for no good reason. Your true friends already know. The roadies know. There are always rumors in the
media. Liam is obviously gay. We spent years trying to tone it down because of where we were raised,
but we’re not there anymore. The entertainment industry is a big tent, and no one is going to throw you
out because you and Liam are lovers. This is your macho bullshit talking.”


“He says I put him on a shelf and just take him out to perform or fuck and then I lock him away
again.”


“Do you? Ask yourself that question and answer it honestly for a change.”


“I don’t know.” Milo checked the door to make sure he was still alone.


“Milo, have you ever taken him out dancing? Do you go to dinner, or a movie?”


“I haven’t got a lot of time with the band—”

“Cut the crap. I played in and managed that band for years, and yet I had time to finish law
school. I only asked for a break to study for the bar. I passed the bar three years ago, opened the firm,
and yet even though Shattered Glass is one of my most important clients, you won’t let me do my job.


You insist on handling everything yourself. What the fuck are you really hiding from?”
“I think I’m afraid to lose him. He’s still so young. I’m scared he’s going to go out and find
someone else.”


“If you keep pushing him away, it will only happen faster. Fuck, you need to get the hell out of
the closet. Your father’s dead, he can’t do you any damage. If you still have issues with that, see a
counselor. You need to do something or you will push everything and everyone you love so far away
from you that you’ll never get them back.”


“I’ll think about it.”


“You better do more than think.”


Milo sat in the study and stared at the wall. Was Sam right, could it be him? But Bart had toured
with a few other bands and knew how much all of this took out of a man. He said Liam just didn’t
understand how much it took to keep it all together. Milo didn’t know, and his ignorance of his own
feelings had caused a rift between not only himself and Liam, but between him, Sam and Rick. He
wished it could be simple. All he wanted to do was love and take care of his baby in peace.
Milo went back upstairs to the bedroom. Liam lay on his stomach, with the cats sleeping on the
pillow above his head. Milo looked at him longingly. He had to stop running from his heart. He crossed
the bare wood floor and sat on the edge of the bed. He was determined to make it up to him somehow.
Lifting the covers, he slid in beside him.


“Baby,” he whispered as he began to stroke his back. “Baby, I need to talk to you.”


“You’re here. I dreamed that you left.”


“No, love, I’m right here beside you. Come into my arms, and let me love you.”


“You’re not mad at me anymore?”


“No, I’m mad at myself for being an unreasonable, jealous prick.”


Liam rolled over on his side and the sheet slipped down below his waist. Milo kept stroking his
skin.


“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Liam said. “I swear. I just needed to talk to someone. I know you
need to run the band. I don’t want to be another burden. I’m so lonely sometimes. Danny’s just a friend.
He’s as het as you can get. I didn’t want to spend the evening feeling sorry for myself.”


“You’re right. I haven’t been putting the time into our relationship that you deserve. I have been
taking you for granted. I promise, I’ll try and do better. You are still so young. The thought of you
finding someone else makes me crazy.”


“I keep telling you, you are it for me. There will never, ever, be anyone else. If you believe
nothing else I tell you, believe that.”


“I’ll try, baby.”


Milo’s hands moved down Liam’s torso, stroking him into arousal. He tried to be as gentle this
morning as he was rough the previous evening. He worshipped Liam’s body with his mouth, moving
down his chest to his now blatant erection.


Placing kisses on Liam’s long, slender shaft, he wrapped his mouth around the mushroomed
head and began to suck with a soft motion that caressed his lover’s organ in his warm mouth. He
fondled Liam’s balls, licked, and sucked around the head, deliberately avoiding his lover’s ass because
he thought Liam would still be sore from his rough treatment of last night.


Liam moaned, “Please, love, more.”


Milo worried at the tip of Liam’s erection with his teeth, building up the tension gradually,
making his lover feel every swipe of his mouth and tongue.


“Milo, I’m gonna—”


Liam spurted into Milo’s mouth. Milo swallowed all his lover had to give him.


“Come up here, love,” Liam begged. “I want to make you feel good, too.”


“No, baby, this time was just for you. Let’s get a shower and go out for breakfast. Then we can
shop for a bench for the garden. I haven’t spent any time there either, and I want to watch you play the
guitar as I tend the flowers. I want to do so many things, baby, but I only want to do them with you.”

Shattered Glass is available in paperback and e-format from Captiva Press at www.captivapress.com. It is also available in paperback and for the Kindle at www.amazon.com.  If you wish to know more about my novels and views, check me out at www.ackatt.com.

America has five percent of the world’s population, yet uses thirty percent of the world’s energy resources.  Oil has been the engine that drove the United States economy since the nineteenth century. With the invention of a cheap assembly line automobile by Henry Ford, America began its love affair with the auto.

The automobile gave birth to the suburbs, and the death of the “downtown.”  It encouraged the birth of strip malls, chain stores and developments.  However, we now find ourself dependent on sometimes unfriendly foreign sources for the very substance that fuels our current economy.  If we are to maintain our current standard of living, we must do the research to find alternative fuels. The long term answers to our energy deficit does not lie in “Drill, baby, drill.” Oil, even with the newest technology of extracting it from shale, is not the answer.  Oil is a finite resource and a pollutant that contributes to greenhouse gases and therefore to global warming.  If we look for a long term solution to our energy problems, we must look elsewhere.

Currently, forty percent of the country’s oil consumption goes directly into the automobile.  One answer to our the problem is theelectric car. However to make an electric car viable for long commutes and family trips, currently, it needs a backup fuel.  For the electric car to be able to take longer trips, America’s research and development community needs to focus on smaller, more efficient batteries.

To be truly green, the electricity for the car has to come from a green source.  Currently scientists have been working on producing electricity from wind turbines and experimenting with solar farms. Although these methods are green, we do not, as of yet, have the capacity to produce enough electricity with these technologies to replace the oil used for generation of power.

Nuclear power is also a possibility but first we must deal with the problem of safe disposal of spent fuel rods and a safer plant design.

All of this new technology takes money for research and development.  In the past government has provided grants to scientists at universities to help develop promising new technologies.  But in the era of a Congress determined to cut budgets for everything, research dollars are harder to obtain unless the return is immediate.  Americans have traded long term planning for immediate profit.

Long term planning is what pushed us into space.  It is what is necessary to push us back into the forefront of the newer technologies that will not only release us from our dependence on foreign, unfriendly entities who use their windfall oil profits to train terrorists and undermine our country’s stability. An infusion of stimulus funds invested in clean energy resources will, in time, bolster our economic growth, provide blue collar jobs and reduce the unemployment rate.

These jobs will need trained personnel.  Therefore cuts to educational programs in our high schools, universities and technical colleges is another bad idea from the Republican Congressional majority.

Investment in green technology can mean the difference between America as a fading superpower or the brighter alternative of an America at the forefront of technology, where we belong.  Investment in the future is necessary now.  We must take back the American Dream away from those who would let American jobs shift to foreign soil and line their pockets with the dollars earned off the backs of the middle class.

Write to your Congressman and Senators and let them know how important it is to invest in America by funding research.  Your standard of living depends on it.

If you wish to know more about my views, check out my website at www.ackatt.com.

My second novel, A Matter of Trust, published by XOXO Publishing, has been nominated as one of the best in Love Romance Cafe Best of 2010 in the BDSM category.  This book is a story about a prominent Dom, Bear Drummond and his search for his “perfect boy.”

Voting for the contest will take place from January 22nd through January 30th.  You may vote for your favorites at  http://lovesbooksandmore.blogspot.com.

I am asking all of my fans to cast a vote for A Matter of Trust at the website stated above.  You can purchase A Matter of Trust from XOXO Publishing at www.xoxopublishing.com.

Bear and Brian is one of my favorite stories.  I hope that you purchase the book, enjoy the story and place your vote at LRC.

The following can now see the AC Katt site: Android, CUPCAKE, bada, blackberry 9800, blackberry9500, blackberry9520, blackberry9530, blackberry9550, dream, iPhone, iPod, incognito, s8000, webOS, webmate

WPtouch

WPtouch: A simple, powerful and elegant mobile theme for your website. WPtouch automatically transforms your WordPress blog into an iPhone application. You can read more about this at http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

Dee Owens

A few have mentioned the Blog’s Design and linking back to specific blogs.  To begin with Laron Glover of Ninth Moon at www.ninthmoon.com is the original designer of the AC Katt Header. The general idea of using a cat in the design of the website was a play on my pen name, AC Katt.

Dee Owens)then took the Header modified and installed it onto the website. The theme was based upon the Wood Theme Designed by Fitness Singles, provided by WP Town and Funny Propeller. The template is in two basic columns.  The blog itself is hosted on Bluehost.com and is a WordPress Blog.

If you want to use any links please contact AC Katt with the place where you want to post the link. In most cases there will not be an issue with you posting a link to the blog or even taking a snippet from the blog itself, however you are required to add “Author & Copyright© AC Katt 2009-2015 http://ackatt.com” at the bottom of each snippet.

For those wanting to use the design you can visit the original developer at WP Town and Funny Propeller, to obtain the original Wood Theme. If you want a personalized design then we recommend you look into hiring someone like Dee Owens who develops and edits WP Themes. The Navigation bar under the header is maintained by myself with images embedded into the coding of the site.

If you have any further questions about the website and its design, contact Dee Owens of Personalized Marketing at PR_Marketing@Live.com where I will be happy to answer what I can.

Thank you,
Dee Owens

Personalized Marketing
CEO/Publicist/Founder
http://personalizedmarketing.info/
pr_marketing@live.com

Translator for the Website

Many have requested a Translator for the Website, AC Katt has listened and we have installed one in the right margin for you called “SDL Free Translation”http://www.freetranslation.com/page-translator/translator.asp