Sunday, February 21, 2021

WANDA S. PARYLA - WOMAN IN HORROR


 

https://www.facebook.com/WandaSParylaAuthorPage

https://wandasparyla.com/

https://www.amazon.com/Wanda-S.-Paryla/e/B00B2FV8N0/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_2



Wanda S. Paryla is my Woman In Horror today! I have a signed copy of her great novel Someday Always Comes. This is 531 pages of pure majestic story-telling. For me, the back cover copy explains the story best:

"In a comprehensive narrative of courage, passion and forever friendship, sixteen year-old Tessa Price, an orphan with a broken heart, little trust and eyes on the future has one really big wish. That someday she could get out of the lives of her Aunt Kiki and Kiki's abusive husband, Dino, or just die.

The difficult-to-impress Tessa spends her days theoretically saving everyone. She is a heroine of an unlikely kind who denies her pain and regret by getting wrapped up in the troubles of others to forget her own.

With rock-star sized aspirations, Tessa seizes one moment in time and rolls the dice, taking her teenage friends on a life-changing journey, crashing and burning into someday. That road is wrought with grief and catastrophe and Tessa struggles to keep things together, while denying herself true love and ignoring her limitations until it's too late.

As she watches her friends spiral to rock bottom, Tessa blames herself for their fall from grace. When the death of a loved one sends her reeling into substance abuse, Tessa, everyone's champ, falls to her knees and becomes everything she hates. Even the life growing inside her seems unable to deter her from a path of self destruction.

Can Tessa rise, once again, from the ashes? Moreover, will her champion wait for her with a genuine love forever? "

******

When I bought this book, Wanda was giving our troops a % of the sales. A very noble gesture. Since then, she is also sending copies of her book to our Armed Forces through Armand Rosamilia's drive to give our troops stationed overseas some great books to read - Authors Supporting Our Troops. So we certainly know where her heart and soul lie.

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 “I believe nightmares come from a part of us that we’re afraid to face and/or conquer. I am a very conflicted person with a past of burnt bridges and terrible mistakes. Oftentimes, I have shockingly frightening and confusing dreams. When I have recurring ones, I try to release them through poetry or other storytelling. Revisiting bad dreams and describing and sharing them helps me to "call out" the horrors from my head - and from my life, so that they don’t consume me.” Wanda S. Paryla

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Wanda is like me in the fact she takes bits and pieces from people she has met along this path we call life and incorporates them into her stories. What a way to accept the gratuities passed to us, good and bad. Also, I think we could be twins. She is writing even when away from her keyboard. Awake or asleep, this young ladies mind is abuzz with ze tales.

Wanda was kind enough to send me quite a written journey through and about her life a few years ago , and I would be quite evil if I changed her words. I feel honored that she chose to send me personal glimpses of her life to pass on to everyone.

******

Up close and personal, here is Wanda S. Paryla, a lady who writes of real life horror:

"Official Bio:

Wanda S. Paryla was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Central Texas. At sixteen she returned to Chicago where she lived for several years before opting to go to college in Texas where she received a BA in sociology from Baylor University. With a life split between two states, and two very different worlds, Wanda’s life experiences transmit through her writing. Along life’s path, she’s met some very colorful people who made various lasting impressions upon her which she relates through her work.

More personal about me:

Disturbing real-life situations as well as my dreams and nightmares are the main focuses of my poetry. Poetry is my way of stating my opinions, staring down fear and pain, and reliving happiness and joy. Moreover, it’s a way for me to release my demons and old ghosts, or call forth new joys. I have to say though, I don’t know why, but it’s easier for me to write about my nightmares than it is to write about love or happy times. I also write poetry about my spiritual trials. It helps me to more easily say to the universe or to the gods what I really feel.

Many characters in my stories were created out of bits and pieces of me or the people who’ve surrounded me my whole, or lively folks that have come and gone. I have been in the presence of people who have made me feel light hearted or calm, then I’ve faced people whose icy glares made me feel like running for the hills. Nonetheless, they all give me writing material.

Truthfully, and strangely, I am always writing even when I am without keyboard or smart phone. I am creating when I do not have pen and notebook or napkin at hand. I create awake or asleep. I can create scenes and do five other things at the same time. I live and breathe writing and creating and I hate it when I think of something and have no way to make a note, then forget the details. I always fancy that even during my last breath my thought will be, “Damn, I knew I should’ve written that down!”

I currently reside near Chicago where I prefer to write in the mornings or late evenings when the energies of the city and my household are more at rest. You shouldn’t be shocked to find me up and pecking on my keyboard, or with a notebook in my hand, at 2am. However, my living circumstances have also taught me to be disciplined enough that if I need to, I can create while my whole household’s in an uproar with cat meowing, phones ringing, neighbors knocking and the kitchen witch a-cooking. If I didn’t conform to this household's business, I’d never write at all.

Published works:

Haunting Memories, a poem published in Vicious Spirits anthology, 2010.

Someday Always Comes, published 2013.

Haunting Memories is an excellent example of a poem written based on a recurring dream about a real place. It’s a story about a woman who will not let the memories of her childhood home rest because she longs for those days of freedom and little concern; where everything was right in the world. Just when she’s about to forget and the house starts to rest, she reawakens the house’s memories, never allowing them to rest permanently. She haunts the house’s memories, not the other way around. I dream about this house on a regular basis and it, or what happens there in my dreams, often end up the subject of a poem.

In Someday Always Comes, the narrator, Tessa Price, is a lot like me character wise. However, she faces her demons on a daily basis. Her torment is both mental and physical and she struggles to deal with this but her youth doesn’t allow her enough knowledge to overcome her obstacles. Despite the differences of our situations, Tessa and I both learn about lessons from life circumstances and like to share them.

Someday Always Comes is about the power of true friendship and love and how those things can help us endure the worst of times. We take the journey with Tessa and her teenage friends as they experience betrayal, loss, tests of honor, and joy and forgiveness. We watch them both fail and blossom as they realize that life isn't always greener on the other side of the fence.

We follow the characters through the pain of loss, abuse, betrayal, then through redemption, love and forgiveness. The one thing that stands out, no matter what, the three main characters cling together, support one another, even when they often despise each other’s ways. When you love someone, sometimes you just have to forgive them. Tessa Price learns to give the forgiveness she always received from others.

Wanda and her longtime feline friend, Ganymede, reside in the Chicago area.

Wanda's works in progress are:

-Angel Maker (Crime/police procedural/mystery/suspense) - 1st book in The Sheriffs of Robertson County series

-Cop Lover (Crime/mystery/thriller) - 2nd book in The Sheriffs of Robertson County series

And planning is underway for:

-The Devil Plays Dice (sequel to Someday Always Comes)

-The Cats & Us Mysteries (paranormal/supernatural mystery)

Favorite Books

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; Anne Rice's Vampire

Chronicles collection; Light on Snow by Anita Shreve to name a few. I enjoy reading Yasmine Galenorn, Madelyn Alt, Debbie Macomber, among others.

I love various poets - Lord Alfred Tennyson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Bronte, Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott, E.A. Poe, Mark Strand, Maya Angelou to name just a few.

My favorite time of the year is Fall. I love October, November and December. I love hot cocoa and peppermint sticks. I enjoy the changing of the seasons and the crackle and smell of the fireplace roaring. I love things that are mysterious and magical. Halloween is my favorite day, and it's my birthday, which makes it doubly enjoyable. I'm fascinated by history, mythology and religion. I'm an animal lover and I enjoy animals of all kinds - dogs, cats, horses and even tigers.

When I'm not working, or writing, I love to read. I read in many genres but am most intrigued by the occult, and things metaphysical. I enjoy ghost and vampire tales, a good love story but I love mystery too. I enjoy reading books that are period pieces...historical-based fiction. Writing fiction and poetry; great music; great movies. I love animals of all sorts. I think there's nothing more relaxing than evening walks under the stars, or nature walks, and sounds of babbling brooks or flowing creeks.

Personal Interests:

Writing fiction and poetry; great music; great movies. I love animals of all sorts. I think there's nothing more relaxing than evening walks under the stars, or nature walks, and sounds of babbling brooks or flowing creeks."

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Rhonda's great novel.



https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B0HMZS2/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

In a comprehensive narrative of courage, passion and forever friendship, sixteen year-old Tessa Price, an orphan with a broken heart, little trust and eyes on the future has one really big wish. That someday she could get out of the lives of her Aunt Kiki and Kiki’s abusive husband, Dino, or just die.

The difficult-to-impress Tessa spends her days theoretically saving everyone. She is a heroine of an unlikely kind who denies her pain and regret by getting wrapped up in the troubles of others to forget her own.

With rock-star sized aspirations, Tessa seizes one moment in time and rolls the dice, taking her teenage friends on a life-changing journey, crashing and burning into someday. That road is wrought with grief and catastrophe and Tessa struggles to keep things together, while denying herself true love and ignoring her limitations until it’s too late.

As she watches her friends spiral to rock bottom, Tessa blames herself for their fall from grace. When the death of a loved one sends her reeling into substance abuse, Tessa, everyone’s champ, falls to her knees and becomes everything she hates. Even the life growing inside her seems unable to deter her from a path of self destruction.

Can Tessa rise, once again, from the ashes? Moreover, will her champion wait for her with a genuine love forever?

******

Rob Read

5.0 out of 5 stars Someday...

Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2013

Verified Purchase

Although not normally the type of novel I read, availability of a free promotional copy persuaded me to take a look. Having a relatively short attention span, the length of the novel (500+ pages) caused me a little trepidation, but I persevered. I am glad I did. The novel is very well written, first person POV from a sixteen year old girl trying to hit the big time as a rock star. Her background and story seemed very real, and I found myself totally engrossed and at times, quite emotional. Some of the situations I found difficult to comprehend, not being female or American, but I have no hesitation in awarding 5 stars for an excellent story.

******

I am very much looking forward to reading Wanda S. Paryla's upcoming books, for she is indeed a Woman In Horror!


Blaze McRob


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