Season’s Christmas Quest: The Dog’s Story

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Hardbound, Softbound, Nook (Barnes and Noble) and Kindle (Amazon) are all available for purchase.

American Betrayal of Israel

Betrayal of Israel

Genesis 12:3: To Israel “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse.”

After spending the past year reading books and documents on  American history, I’ve found some things that appeared more than coincidental about Israel and the terrorism we face today.

Israel is about the size of Rhode Island. They have weapons from every Muslim nation in the world aimed right at them. Since inception, those nations have declared time and again they want to “drive the Jews into the sea”.  But, they have been American “allies” since they became a nation, despite the fact that America refused most as refugees during the Holocaust, as illustrated by the voyage of the St. Louis.  Even so, after all the Pro-Israel talking points are said and done, this is how the United States has treated them just within the past 30 years.

While he was president, Bill Clinton, who was always touted as “a likable guy”, wanted his “legacy” to show he brought peace to the Middle East. But, what did he actually accomplish with this quest?

“In 1993, Osama bin Laden was a small-time funder of militant Muslim terrorist in Sudan, Yemen, and Afghanistan. By the end of 2000, Clinton’s last year in office, bin Laden’s network was operating in more than 55 countries and already responsible for the deaths of thousands.” (Miniter, Losing bin Laden, xvi,xix). (Coincidental that the same is now said about ISIS under Obama)

In his quest for peace treaty with his name on it, Bill Clinton was instrumental of changing the status of PLO terror leader, Yasser Arafat, from “terrorist” to “Freedom Fighter” and “Diplomat”, offering him unlimited and unfettered access to the White House as his special guest. At the same time Arafat and the PLO were lobbying missiles at Israel, with Arafat calling for “a million martyrs” of suicide bombers.  In 1997 Sara Ehrman, Clinton’s Senior Advisor, said to Clinton during a telephone conference call that in order for Arafat to get what he wants, “…Arafat has no choice but to use terror.” This was heard by others during the conversation and this ideology has been the secret within the government from the Clinton administration on through the Obama administration. They have no choice but to use terror. Terrorism is acceptable.

After several turnovers of leadership (one assassination) during the 1990’s, Bibi Netanyahu became Prime Minister of Israel from  June 18 1996 – July 6 1999.  According to an interview with Yoram Etinger on 10-25-2003, Netanyahu had seen through Clinton and Arafat’s double dealing with his predecessors and “refused to sell Israel’s security for repeatedly violated agreements with Arafat and the Palestinian Authority”. He refused to sign any peace agreements giving away Israeli territory knowing  promises were historically broken. Before the election, Rahm Emmanuel (who was Clinton’s senior advisor of Internal Affairs and went on to become Obama’s campaign head and Chief of Staff), went to Israel to negotiate with Netanyahu and was quoted as saying afterward, “We will kick him in the (blank) so hard, and he will be so miserable, that he won’t know what hit him.” Clinton defiantly sent his own Democratic campaign advisors to Israel to put a stop to the election of Netanyahu, even though America has a policy of non-involvement in the elections of other nations.

But Clinton failed. Netanyahu won that election anyway and later had a great reception as he spoke before Congress. He received a standing ovation which infuriated a jealous Bill Clinton. After that, “Clinton made every effort to undermine Netanyahu while he was in office.” Michael D. Evans, author and eye witness political correspondent.

Clinton was not done. Again in 1999, when Netanyahu was running for re-election, Clinton sent his “million dollar” election team, the team that had run his own re-election campaign, which included James Carver, Stanley Greenberg, and Bob Shrum, to Israel to disrupt the elections in order to stop Netanyahu from winning a second term.  Greenberg had kept close contact with Ehid Barak and Clinton put his full weight behind him knowing he could manipulate him as he wished. His team worked with Barak for a year to accomplish this, spending between $50-80 million violating “strict Israeli campaign laws”.  Barak won, Netanyahu was defeated, but they were fined for this breach of ethics. America still had a noninvolvement policy.

At Camp David in the year 2000, they convinced Barak to agree to return Israel to pre-1967 borders, which put Israel at greater risk of attack, but Arafat refused to sign a peace agreement. Bombings continued against Israel with Israeli retaliation, but Arafat was still welcomed at the White House. Not so for Israel. Then again in January, 2001, just before George W. Bush took office, Clinton, convinced he had to have his peace legacy, dragged Barak back to the negotiation table. He required Israel to give up 98% of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, all of East Jerusalem, give Palestinian sovereignty over the Temple Mount, plus $30 billion to make peace with Palestine. Barak agreed. Arafat again refused to sign the agreement. He wanted more. He wanted nothing more than to force all Israelites “into the sea” as Islam planned from the beginning, and unless that was accomplished, there would be no peace…ever.  In the meantime, Arafat was treated like a king in the Clinton white house, while our ally, Israel, was bombed and treated with disrespect and manipulation.

“This pattern of willingness to negotiate endlessly with enemies, even while they were already shooting, was one of the trademarks of Clinton’s presidency, and particularly characterized his relationship with Israel.” Michael D. Evans.

Under George W. Bush, U.S. backed loan guarantees of 289.5 million to Israel were rescinded, and even though Yasser Arafat was not invited to the White House, Bush refused to hold him and the PLO responsible for their crimes. At the same time billions in arms sales and dollars went to the PLO and Islamic nations. (see below)

Netanyahu ran for Prime Minister again during Obama’s presidency and assumed the office on March 31, 2009. Obama, appearing as a surrogate of Bill Clinton was not pleased. Coincidently, it appears as though the Clinton administration and policies were completely carried over into the Obama administration by Hillary as Secretary of State, with much of the same staff that Bill Clinton had previously used, including Rahm Emmanuel, who had already has his own altercations with Netanyahu.

After repeatedly admonishing the world that American policy precludes interference in foreign elections, Obama turned around and did the exact same thing that Bill Clinton did during Netanyahu re-election campaign in 2015.

“As Jerusalem Post columnist and putative Knesset candidate Caroline Glick (sarcastically) reported, ‘Obama won’t meet Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington when he addresses the Joint Houses of Congress in March because of Netanyahu’s visit’s proximity to the Israeli elections. And Obama, of course believes in protocol and propriety which is why he won’t get involved.’ And yet, Glick adds, ‘He’s just sending his 2012 field campaign manager {Jeremy Bird} to Israel to run a campaign to defeat Netanyahu.’

In a repeat of the Clinton years, in 2015 Netanyahu stood before Congress again, and yet again received a standing ovation. This time it was Obama who was furious, but this time they failed to oust Netanyahu. Israel had learned her lesson well, and that was not to trust America.

And also in a repeat of the Clinton years, a terrorist group that started as “JV” according to Obama, blossomed into ISIS, a terrorist organization that in record time has brutally and publicly killed many thousands, while destroying historical buildings and artifacts. But, Obama and Hillary still celebrate “we killed bin Laden.”

Now Hillary Clinton wants to claim the office, and as she was an eye witness (and policy consultant) as first lady under Bill Clinton, then senator in Congress, and then as Secretary of State under Obama, she has consistently been involved in all aspects of global terrorism. Pressure is now on America to end our complacency. In fact, proven in a currently revealed email from 2014 to John Podesta reads:

“We need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to ISIL and other radical Sunni groups in the region.”

But Saudi, another of our allies, had been doing that all along, from the very beginning, and they know it. It has been well known throughout the world, and condemned by other major nations, most vocal being Russia. Saudi has been instrumental in training, financing, and funneling money to terrorists all the way back to Jimmy Carter, financed the PLO against Israel at the time Arafat was celebrated at the White House and were indirectly (and/or directly) responsible for the 911 attack on American soil. America has been funding it this entire time through very lucrative arms sales.

One reason our government lets Saudi get away with it: “The Saudis hold hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of U.S. assets.”

”Saudi Arabia has threatened the United States with economic reprisals should the U.S. pass a law allowing for its citizens to hold the oil-rich kingdom responsible for its alleged role in the 9/11 terror attack.”

So, Obama vetoed a bill allowing victim families to sue, but Congress recently overrode that veto.

American investments in arms and money that finance terrorism:

Jimmy Carter:   Saudi Arabia:  $16.9 billion…Egypt:  3.6 billion…Jordan: 427 million

Ronald Reagan:   Saudi Arabia: 36.3 billion…Egypt: 4.1 billion…Jordan: 2.5 billion

George H.W. Bush:   Saudi: 19.6 billion…Egypt 3.5 billion…Jordan 60.2 million.

Bill Clinton:   Saudi: 23.5 billion…Egypt: 10.7 billion…Jordan: 650.7 million…Lebanon: 157.8 million

George W. Bush:   Allowed as part of a package Congress approved in 2000 under Clinton:   400 million in aid for the Palestinian Authority. 8.5 billion in weapons and for Kuwait, UAE and Oman, Egypt weapon upgrades worth 330 million, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi continues with the same previous investments, and in addition, 87 billion rebuilding package for Iraq, which eventually was destroyed by ISIS under Obama.

Since then, according to investment watchdog, “Obama and Hillary sold and shipped Muslim nations 549 BILLION dollars in Guns and Ammunition in the last 7 years.”

And…Per Ammo.com, the Obama administration has approved more lethal weapons sales to more foreign countries than any U.S. administration since World War II.  And some of these sales will likely result in unintended consequences i.e. ‘blowback’ – especially as more than 60 percent of them have gone to the Middle East and Persian Gulf.”

An angry article by the Islamic “electronic intifada” slams Obama after his recent Iran Deal, (that Israel decries will put nuclear weapons within range of their homeland) saying, “The Obama administration approved a $1.9 billion arms sale to Israel in recent days as “compensation” for the US nuclear deal with Iran, which the Israeli regime staunchly opposes.”

Does that help? I’m not sure America knows who her allies are, but in the long run a curse just might be headed our way if we don’t change our ways.

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T’was The Night

This comes from a Christmas card I received a decade or so ago. I thought it was hilarious at the time. Merry Christmas everyone!

No author listed:

T’was the night before Christmas, and all through the shack,

I could hear the distinct sounds of my grand pappy’s hack.

We had just hung our stockings in a jubilant mood,

In hopes that St. Elvis would bring us some food.

 

Daddy was nestled, all snug in his bed,

Coal dust covering his pillow and head.

No wood in the stove, the cold numbed my feet,

To add insult to injury, Ol’ Red was in heat.

 

When out on the lawn I heard the grinding of gears,

I sprang from my bed almost frightened to tears.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh pulled by a dark green John Deere.

 

With a little ol’ driver shaking his pelvis,

I instantly knew that it must be St. Elvis.

He was dressed all in sequins from his head to his toes,

And the top of his lip curled up to his nose.

 

His hips how they twitched, his gut was titanic,

When he leaned on the porch rail, I went into a panic.

Huffing and puffing, his face turning red,

Soon gave me to know, he’d come back from the dead.

 

He sang not a note, but went straight to his work,

Filled all the stockings and turned with a jerk.

Then hitching his pants, lumbered back to the sleigh,

Fired up the tractor, and was soon on his way.

 

Then he bid us adieu with his personal touch…

“Merry Christmas to all and thanks veramuch!”

 

Robin Williams

Allow me to be contentious for a moment. From all news sources and social media, there is worldwide, and I’ll admit deserved, praise for the wonderful and privileged life that Robin Williams lived, while he shared fun and laughter with the rest of us. He was an amazing actor, comedian, and above all, kind. We all loved him and we are all heartbroken. But, I’m also hearing over and over that his depression and substance abuse was not his fault, his suicide was not his fault and how most of us just don’t understand, because we just don’t know what it’s like to be that depressed…to be that lost…to be in that much pain. That said, I wonder how many, then, are going to follow in his glorious footsteps and kill themselves too. Those who wonder question, “Is he really in a better place? Is the Genie finally free? Maybe that’s where I should be too…” It sounds like a dream come true for those who were pulling toward suicide. After all, no one is saying a thing about what a horrible, mean-spirited and hateful act it is to kill oneself. They also don’t speak a word about how suicide and substance abuse takes an unspeakable toll on the survivors of those who just won’t, or can’t help themselves.

I cannot count how many times in the past 6 months have I heard from old friends and acquaintances where a loved one shot himself or herself in the head at their own home KNOWING a family member will have to discover the remains. Wouldn’t that sight be forever branded into their minds as a horror to be lived over and over again? Robin knew someone who loved him dearly would find him hanging with belt around his swollen head and his wrist cut and bled on the floor. Why would he do such a thing knowing someone he professed to love would see that? Why would anyone? Being depressed is not a valid reason.

When I see my husband, mother and countless old friends and extended family members fighting so hard to beat a terminal illness; subjected to the pain of surgery, sickness and loss of dignity from the effects of chemo and radiation, and a body torn apart, I get angry, and very sad, when I see someone else just throw his life away. How depressed do I have to be, how much more must I take, to justify death?

I certainly understand what it feels like to be the victim, the one left behind, of someone whose only desire is to die. The survivors have their own desperate questions. Why didn’t he care enough for me…or us…to live, knowing how much he would be missed? How much more could I, or should I, have done to save him? Why did he subject us to the fear, the helplessness, the horror and the personal abuse? On the other hand, why did he hate us so much that he would do such a thing? What has he kept hidden so deeply that he had to die to escape? These are the thoughts that cross the minds of those left behind, and sometimes anger is the only emotion left to cope with it. My family and I are the survivors who have to endure in only a few short years, not only the pain of the one who refused to live, but the loss of the one who refused to give up and died anyway, and the one who is still fighting to live against all odds. So do I know what it’s like to be depressed? You betcha. Do I know what it’s like to endure the “dark night of the soul”? You better believe it. I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death many times. If we were to be perfectly honest and admit it, we all want to die at times. But, we don’t. We just don’t.

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Kirkus Media Review

I just recieved a review of my book from Kirkus Media. Here it is: Season’s Christmas Quest The dog’s story

“In this holiday novel for middle graders, a dog’s quest to save his master’s daughter becomes a journey to save the world.

Season the dog’s world upends when ash clouds the atmosphere and threatens the life of Melissa, his beloved owner’s little girl. So, being the plucky pup he is, Season leaves his cozy home and braves the wild forest in an attempt to clear the skies, though he has no knowledge of how to do so. In other words, Pollard’s debut starts out by rewriting the standard quest story, this time with a dog in the starring role.

In the opening scene (before one of several flashback), readers land smack in the middle of a confrontation between Season and a snarling pack of wolves. In smooth prose interwoven with the right amount of explication, the story follows Season through the forest as he befriends a kind but underappreciated mule, then faces danger, trickery and death.

Explaining the meaning of his quest, Season says: “It is my purpose. Have you never felt like that? That there is a purpose for you, and that only you can fulfill it?” The plot features dangerous wildlife—snakes, bats, wolves, etc.—and harsh natural elements until Season faces his final confrontation, at which point the author introduces mystical forces disguised as humans and a perplexing resolution to the quest. Readers may feel blindsided by the revelation that his quest has been engineered by divine forces at war, but this sudden turn infuses the novel with new life, converting the story from a standard quest into a more fantasy-oriented trek.

The fitting conclusion should leave readers of all ages satisfied. Any link to Christmas, a holiday mentioned several times in the story, is overwhelmed by the general, world-saving nature of Season’s journey. Although not mentioned in the book, Season hopefully has more quests in his future.

Fans of animal tales will gobble up this tale of a dog who loves his girl and ends up saving the world.”

Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC, 6411 Burleson Rd., Austin, TX 78744 indie@kirkusreviews.com

The Transformation of Saint Nicholas into Santa Claus

santa4

First, the name is the same, but it’s all in the pronunciation of the name. He was known far and wide as “Saint Nicholas”, a man of miracles and generosity. Stories about him grew and spread to other nations and the pronunciation of his name, with a variation of spellings, changed to suit the accent and dialect of each town. For example, Saint Nicholas to the Scandinavians went from “Sant Niklaus” to “Santna Klaus” (sounding very similar to Santa Claus) to “Sinterklaas”. Even the Germans, spelled it nearly the same with variations of “Zinterklos” or “Zintner Klaas”.  (Klaas, Klaus and Claus are also short for Niklaus or Nicholas)  He was also known as “Kris Kringle” or “Kris Kind” which means “Christ Kind” or “child of Christ”, a name also used today.

By the time people from these lands began to immigrate to America, they brought with them their spellings and pronunciations and the name eventually turned into “Santa Claus”, and thereafter the legends grew into fantasy.

But, the true story of Nicholas, begins in the village of Patara (southwest coastal city in Turkey), where he was born of Greek parents on March15, 270 AD, lived as a devout believer and follower of Jesus Christ, and died on December 6, 343 AD. He spent most of his life in the nearby city of Myra. His parents were wealthy and raised him to be a devout Christian. They both died in an epidemic and Nicholas inherited a vast fortune, but harkening to Jesus’ words to the rich man, “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven”, he dedicated his life to assist the less fortunate and serving God.  He became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

Persecution of Christians (a term coined in the year 42AD in Antioch of those who followed Christ) continued off and on over the next centuries after the death of Jesus, but in 261 AD, Gallienus issued an edict of tolerance that lasted for nearly 40 years. Nicholas was born into this peace, but then around 303 AD, when Nicholas was around 33 years old, Roman Emperor Diocletian, began to ruthlessly persecute Christians.  Nicholas was an ordained Bishop in Myra by then and suffered for his faith, exiled and imprisoned. The prisons were so full of Christians, there was no room for the real criminals. Diocletian also divided Rome into two political and cultural sections, East and West, which caused the beginning of the Roman decline.

By 311, Constantine issued an edict ending persecution of Christians and then in the year 325, Bishop Nicholas was in attendance at Constantine’s famous Council of Nicaea. Nicholas was profoundly against the teachings of the Arians, who taught against the divinity of Christ and the Council’s principal action was the condemnation of Arianism. The council also contributed to formulation of the Nicene Creed, fixed the date for the observance of Easter, passed regulations concerning clerical discipline, and adopted the civil divisions of the Empire as the model for the jurisdictional organization of the Church.

Life went on and Bishop Nicholas continued his practice of helping those in need. The most popular story regarding Nicholas was about a poor man with three daughters of marrying age. In those days, and for many centuries after, a young woman’s father had to offer prospective husbands something of value–a dowry– to go along with the bride. Without a dowry, a woman was unlikely to marry, but the larger the dowry, the better the chance that a young woman would find a good and decent husband.  The poor man had no dowry for his daughters and was afraid that they would need to be sold into slavery. Word of this came to Nicholas, and mysteriously, a bag of gold appeared in the home for each of them. The first two bags had, evidently, been secretly tossed through an open window, and are said to have landed in stockings or shoes left before the fire to dry. One story tells that the father tried to spy on the benefactor and watched out the window for him, but Nicholas tricked him by throwing the third bag down the chimney instead. This story led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas and they were not often disappointed. (It also led to the current idea of Santa coming down the chimney to leave those gifts).

There were many miracles attributed to him, but the most significant came after his death. He died on December 6 in 343 AD and was buried in his own church, where a unique and strange oily substance formed in his grave. It was called manna or myrrh and the rose scented substance was said to have healing powers, which then fostered the growth of devotion to Nicholas. The anniversary of his death, December 6th, became a day of celebration, and St. Nicholas Day was celebrated extensively.

Over the centuries, St. Nicholas’ tomb in Myra became a popular place of pilgrimage as the manna continued to flow. As Myra was a seaport, sailors heard the stories of the healing miracles and carried them all over the world. People flocked to Myra to see his shrine and Myra benefited commercially because of that. But then Myra fell under the control of the invading Seljuk Turks, and Italian merchants in both Venice and Bari, saw an opportunity to bring such advantage to their own cities. Their motives were opportunistic in part, but also spiritual, as there was real fear that pilgrimage could become difficult and dangerous, and that the shrine would even be desecrated by the unbelieving Turks.

Early in 1087, three ships with sailors and merchants from Bari stopped in Myra on their way home from Antioch. When they visited the tomb, the monks showed them where the manna was extracted and where the body was lain. Later they came back and broke open the tomb with an iron bar and escaped with the bones to the southeast coast of Italy. Before arriving there, they stopped at a nearby port to make a beautiful casket to hold the relics and when they arrived in Bari the townspeople thronged to the harbor to welcome the saint’s remains. The returning men made a solemn vow to build a magnificent church to honor St. Nicholas. To this day pilgrims and tourists visit Bari’s great Basilica di San Nicola.

St. Nicholas church

In the late 1950s, during a restoration of the chapel, a team of hand-picked scientists came to photograph and measure the contents of the crypt grave. In the summer of 2005, the report of these measurements was sent to a forensic laboratory in England. The review of the data revealed that the historical St. Nicholas was barely five feet in height and had a broken nose (probably received during his incarceration). In 2009, Turkey requested that the bones be returned. The substance is reported to continue to flow to this day, but now the unbelieving world attributes it to seawater.

Enter Santa Claus…On December 23, 1773; the Rivington’s Gazette in New York City may have been the first official recorded recognition of the name change when they wrote “St. Nicholas, otherwise known as Santa Claus”. Although the name, itself, had not changed, the pronunciation had, so therefore the spelling also changed. After that, his persona began to change also, but in a satirical and mocking way.

Dutch immigrants, who strongly celebrated Saint Nicholas, had settled in the Hudson Valley in New York and brought with them their legends and stories. Washington Irving, who wrote the Legend of Sleepy Hollow, had moved nearby and became familiar with the town of Sleepy Hollow with its quaint Dutch customs and local ghost stories. In his satirical A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, Irving makes dozens of references to a Saint Nicholas that flies over treetops and brings gifts down chimneys. It was purposely published on the feast day of St. Nicholas, December 6, 1809…“And when St. Nicholas had smoked his pipe, he twisted it in his hatband, and laying his finger beside his nose gave the astonished Van Kortlandt a very significant look; then mounting his wagon he returned over the tree tops and disappeared.” Book II, Chapter V.

That satire was so well received, that embellished knockoffs came right behind it. Some years later a William Gilley published the didactic Sancte Claus in 1821 in which he wrote in part: “Old Santeclaus with much delight, His reindeer drives the frosty night, O’er chimney tops and tracks of snow, To bring his yearly gifts to you.” He then goes on to describe the types of toys children should play with.

Clement Moore, a professor at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, was greatly influenced by the satirical writings of Washington Irving, and was a neighbor of William Gilley.  He copied from Irving’s History with his poem A Visit from St. Nicholas (Twas the Night before Christmas) and incorporated the writings of Gilley. But his story portrays St. Nicholas as a magical and fanciful, tiny pipe-smoking elf-like man in a red suit, with a round belly and a sleigh of toys including Gilley’s flying reindeer, which were now very tiny also. It was published in the New York Sentinal on December 23, 1823.

It was all fun and games, but the world began to become more secularized and this “Santa Claus” was embraced as the new hero. In 1848 illustrations began to be added to the work that eventually changed the elf to human size and over time new stories were embellished and added to the original that housed him at the North Pole employing elves in a toy making shop, and it goes on from there.

Nicholas of Myra was an important and instrumental part of church history, but it seems as if the veneration of the Saint had become so pronounced in many parts of the world, that stories of his works and miracles had even overshadowed those of Christ. It is possible that the early American satirical and fantastical stories were mockingly written to bring attention to that fact by the use of hyperbole, and that the Jesus that Nicholas, himself, worshipped…the one he had served his entire life and suffered in prison for…had been forgotten.

Keeping it Real Clarion Review (in its entirety)

Season’s Christmas Quest: The Dog’s Story

“Here’s a thrilling new twist on the heart-warming story of a dog’s odyssey to reunite with his human family.

The story of a dog on a journey to find his human family is one that has been told before, but Tara Pollard creates a dark fantasy of good versus evil for the golden mixed-breed dog, Season. With layered references to traditional folklore, Christian symbolism, and an apocalyptic setting, Pollard’s Season’s Christmas Quest is not the sweet and expected tale of a domestic dog alone in the wild. It is a fast-paced adventure.

Season is on a quest to save his master’s daughter, Melissa, from something—we’re never really told what—but instead finds that he must save the whole world. He does this by trying to remember snippets of a poem he heard Melissa reciting. As completely strange as the story sounds, it does work. Pollard keeps the message of following one’s heart and discovering a sense of spiritual grace at the center, and the pieces fall into place.

From the cover image of the sweet-faced yellow dog in the gentle snow, the title itself, and the friendly snowflakes that open each chapter, the book appears to be marketed as a different kind of story. Who would know that the entire action of the plot takes place in a dark and violent version of our world, where volcanic eruptions have blackened the sky, soured the air, and sickened the humans?

The writing tends to rush through action and description and then stall a bit with redundant dialogue. Creative fantasy can overwhelm the story, such as the chapter involving Season and a mule he has befriended climbing out of an underground cavern, through rooms, and up staircases and ramps. Though rich with descriptions of a phosphorescent substance lighting the way and a nest of snakes close behind them, the pair emerges atop a mountain, faced with a sky full or stars, or “orbs,” that swirl around them and then retreat and twinkle “as stars tend to do.” It is a bombardment of thoughts and ideas—exciting but impatiently overlapped.

Pollard is full of ideas but could illustrate the action better with more complete descriptions. This story is a modern take on an old theme, combining the lesson-learning of Aesop’s Fables with the illogical and often unnerving scenery of a C. S. Lewis tale. Season is “an innocent” as described by his mule friend. His innocence and loyalty make him the quiet hero who never seeks recognition or reward but simply wants to help his friends.

Pollard’s writing has the sincerity and excitement to appeal to a broad audience of young readers. While Season’s Christmas Quest may not be what is expected of a holiday story, it taps into the mystery and magic of faith and love and, ultimately, does warm the heart.”

Sara Hartley

The Legend Of The Talking Animals

23644351-holy-child-with-donkey-lambs-goat-and-calf  “The Night The Animals Talked”

In the frosty mountains and on the snowy fields of Norway, there was a legend that drew children to all kinds of stables and stalls throughout the country on each Christmas Eve at midnight. Why would they go to these places on Christmas Eve of all nights? They were hoping to “hear” a miracle. They had hope, or faith, that each one would be blessed to hear the animals talk. Now, whether the animals were miraculously endowed with the speech of humans or whether the humans miraculously understood the speech of animals was not clear. But, they believed they could definitely communicate with one another.

But why? Well, over 2,000 years ago, Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem. It was a working stable, filled with animals of all kinds. Into these humble surroundings, Jesus was placed in a manger. Encircled by the innocent creatures of God, the Savior of man came into the world.

Now, according to the legend at least, Christ’s birth occurred at exactly midnight. Inside the stable, the animals watched in wonder as the new-born babe was lovingly wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in that manger. Then suddenly, God gave voice to the animals and they immediately began to praise God for the miracle they had just witnessed. The miracle that God’s only son was born in human form.

Shepherds, who had been keeping watch over their flock at night, were told by an angel of the miracle birth and hurried to the stable. But just before they entered to worship the baby, the animals were silenced and the voices of humans in praise took their place.

So, the stories were told and the legend of the talking animals grew.  To this day, the story continues to be told in many places in Scandinavia, and when midnight on Christmas Eve comes around, there are wide-eyed children who creep into stables in hope of hearing the animals once again praise God for the wondrous birth of His Son.

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Stocking Stuffers

 

"The kids were in suspense...wide eyed and interested!"

“The kids were in suspense…wide eyed and interested!”

Time is running out! Load your Kindle or Nook, or order a print copy of Season’s Christmas Quest: The Dog’s Story for an inspirational Christian read for Christmas right now!
Amazon:, or Barnes and Nobel or even my own blog page for a signed copy.

Season, a bright-eyed, golden dog of mixed breed, is best friends with his master’s little girl, Melissa. But just days before Christmas, a canopy of darkness covers the skies, ash blankets the ground, and the land seems to wither and die. Worse yet, his beloved friend grows seriously ill. Melissa needs sunshine and clean air to survive. Desperate to save her, Season makes a fateful decision to embark on a dangerous quest to search for a way to keep her alive. Now, he cannot help but wonder if he has just made the biggest mistake of his life.

Season knows the darkness is a rare catastrophe of historic proportions and becomes determined to find a way to stop it. After he sets out on a frightening journey of magic and mystery, he encounters battles with heartless forest animals that constantly test his courage, perseverance, and intuition. Season knows it is a perilous world in the wilds of the forest, but he is about to discover just how dangerous it really is.

In this inspirational tale, Season must uncover the mystery as to what exactly dwells upon the mountains of the dark forest in order to save his little girl-and possibly the world.

Tara Pollard

Author of Season's Christmas Quest: The Dog's Story

John 3:16 Marketing Network

Author of Season's Christmas Quest: The Dog's Story

Profoundly Disconnected

Author of Season's Christmas Quest: The Dog's Story

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