The Z Files: Trisha Ashley ~ Aries

Astrology ~ a bit of fun, a load of rubbish, or something to take seriously?

I invited around 70 writers/bloggers to write a piece about how typical they are of their sign, and how its traits affect their writing life ~ if at all...

Has your favourite writer been featured yet?  Links to all previous posts at the end of this one :)

Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, Mars ruled ~ and they like to win!  My next guest, Trisha Ashley, certainly has; she's been named a Sunday Times bestselling author of romantic comedies.  Her new book, A Christmas Cracker, is not so much 'now available', as leaping up the Amazon chart accompanied by tinsel, sparklers and a cheering crowd ~ you can look at it HERE on Amazon, as many thousands have already, and many more will do!

Here's Trisha in her favourite Day of the Dead apron ~ excellent picture!!  Now, what does being an Aries mean to her?

 

"I once read that Aries are artistic and creative and since I’ve been writing and painting since I was a little girl, that’s certainly true for me.

I’ve achieved great success with my writing, but to follow my star and get to that point I had to make great sacrifices and endured long struggles. So yes, you could say I’m courageous, strong-willed, confident, a risk taker, persevering, assertive, independent and frequently filled with bursts of unfounded optimism."

"I think many of the other Aries traits, like enthusiastic, curious, spontaneous, extraordinary and exciting (though actually, I don’t feel very exciting, I’m just me), come under the umbrella of  mad as a box of frogs, the term most often employed in the mail I receive from my readers."

"I’m not energetic, nor a leader – I don’t want to lead anyone anywhere - but I hope I’ve always been a good and steadfast friend.  And I’ve continually strived to help other hard-working writers achieve their full potential: for instance, I’ll be giving the first Trisha Ashley Award for a humorous short story at an event in Exeter this October.  So I hope I’m selfless, inspiring, helpful, frank and stimulating…though that, of course, may come over as bossy. I can certainly be brusque and impatient with those who expect success to drop into their laps without any effort at all."

Sounds pretty Arien to me; Trisha had highlighted some words/phrases that she thought particularly typical of the sign, and I found a few more :)  I'm honoured that she took time out of her busy schedule to write a piece for my blog (I get a bit 'we are not worthy' with anyone who is massively successful in their chosen field!), and would like to add that Ms Ashley is one of those people who, despite having 'made it', still bothers to do stuff like retweet others on Twitter <<<-- follow her by clicking!  You might also like to take a look at all her bestselling romcoms on her website.

Here are two other cheerful, open and friendly looking rams to make up the Aries trio...

... I found bestselling chick lit author from Philadelphia, Jennifer Weiner...

.....and the male version of a chick lit writer, 'bloke lit' scribe, Nick Hornby!  

 Up Next: an educationally minded Gemini!

Previous Posts:
Leo and Aries: Terry Tyler and Julia Proofreader 
Leo: Anne Goodwin, Alex Johnson 
Aries: Cynthia Harrison 
Gemini: Jerome Dumont, John Privilege, Shelley Wilson 
Aquarius and Capricorn: Nicky Black
Aquarius: Cathy Ryan, Lynda Renham 
Capricorn: blogger Steffany R 
Sagittarius: Rachel Amphlett, Wendy J Lennox, Katrina Mountfort 
Virgo: Louise Marley, Elizabeth Ducie, Barb Taub
Pisces: Maria Savva, Sacha Black 
Scorpio: Gemma Lawrence, Robert Leigh, Catherine Hokin, Jenny Twist 
Taurus: Valerie-Anne Baglietto, Valerie Poore
Cancer: Katie Oliver, Mark Barry
Libra: Tom Hocknell, Jen Ammoscato, Joanne B

Walkthrough ~ Nano Virus ~ Mega Brutal ~ Plague Inc

(For Plague Inc addicts only, ie, nothing to do with the usual stuff on my blog!)

For other walkthroughs, click PLAGUE INC MEGA BRUTAL WALKTHROUGHS tag at bottom of this post.

Android only, on my tablet - I don't know if it works on Xbox One or any other device. 

I found Nano Virus so hard, I must have tried it about 30-40 times, tweaking the sequence a bit each time... eventually I did it this way, and it worked.

Here's what I did:

Modify:
DNA Genes - Cytochrome Surge
Travel Genes - Aerocyte
Evolution Genes - Patho-Statis
Mutation Genes - Genetic Mimic
Environment Genes - Extremophile

Start in India (I've tried Egypt & China - not too bad - Brazil and Russia - hopeless)

As you know, Nano Virus is difficult because you have to worry about this wretched kill switch thing, while getting it to infect enough to keep the DNA points coming.  Making subtle changes to the order in which I activated all abilities, transmissions, etc, this is what worked:

First, activate in this order:
Code Fragment Interception
Code Segment Interception
Radical elements stablised 
Replication Factory Overload

Now:
I got Air 1 first, as I got the message about new air filters on planes
Then:
Water 1
Cold resistance (CR) 1 (because China was infected, which is near Russia)
Drug Resistance (DR) 1 (as it was getting around countries with good medical research facilities)

By now the cure was up to 77% so I got Encryption Breached to take it down.
Then:
Water 2
I devolved Nausea, which had mutated itself, giving me another point

The cure was back up to 72% so I got Broadcast Interceptor Overload.

Then:
Genetic Hardening 1 and 2
Coughing
Pneumonia
Cysts
Hypersensitivity 

I don't usually get lots of symptoms but it wasn't infecting very quickly.  The first two to help the cold countries, the last two lead to Paralysis.

Then:
Air 2
Genetic Reshuffle (GRes) 1
Extreme Bioaerosol
GRes 2
DR 2
CR 2
Paralysis (Good for knocking the cure back)

Still not infecting very fast so...
Bird 1
Blood 1
Insomnia
Paranoia (also knocks cure back nicely)

Next, it automatically mutated Sneezing - handy!

I got Bird 2

Next, my nano-virus automatically mutated Coma (and at last Greenland got infected!)
Then it automatically mutated Total Organ Failure - that worried me a bit as it was too early.  Getting TOF can be curtains, because it kills everyone off before it's infected them all; I had to act quickly and get the rest of them struck down with my Nano-Virus as fast as poss.

I usually play on Fast Forward but went down to normal speed at this point because I thought I was actually going to do it, and didn't want to make any wrong decisions

I got:
Livestock 1 (logical because West Africa and Greenland were still looking healthy, and there are probably a whole bunch of camels and buffalo and elks and things wandering about in those two countries)
GRes 3

Mutated Seizures on its own.

I got Insanity - that knocks it back too - I like to think of all those researchers going nuts.

Then:
Blood 2
Livestock 2
Sweating 
Abcesses
Anaemia

The cure was at 94%, and "the last few humans knew they were watching the end of history"!  Me, I got 15330 points :)

Bit of an anti-climax to do Bio-Weapon afterwards - I got it straight away, too easy.  Just remember to modify with Patho-Stasis, and get all the six things at the top right hand side of the Abilities screen early on.

The Z Files: Tom Hocknell ~ Libra

Astrology ~ a bit of fun, a load of rubbish, or something to take seriously?

I invited around 70 writers/bloggers to write a piece about how typical they are of their sign, and how its traits affect their writing life ~ if at all...

Has your favourite writer been featured yet?  Links to all previous posts at the end of this one :)

Bringing a little light Libran debate to the proceedings, today's guest is idle fellow, gentleman blogger (and novelist, I believe), Tom Hocknell.  I first encountered him on Twitter when I read his very amusing Top 18 Essential Tips For Writing Fiction; I knew he had to be a good chap because his blog is named after Jerome K Jerome's Idle Thoughts Of An Idle Fellow.  I'm a big fan of JKJ, so clicked without delay!

Now, Tom is an AstroSceptic; come on then, let's have it...!

"According to astrology there are 13 types of humans: 12 who fall under signs of the zodiac, and those who think it’s the sort of manure bought by people considering crystals as acceptable room decoration and generally own cats.

As a Libra I have to admit to liking debate, hence after a few moments of deliberation I decided against a cat."

"Somehow without sniggering, horoscopes claim to predict the future. In some newspapers they remain the most accurate reporting in it. Despite this, it takes believers far more than wildly inaccurate forecasts to shake their faith. After all, as Francis Bacon once said, ‘the root of superstition is men observing when a thing hits, not when it misses.”

 

To be fair astrologers do know what they’re doing, even if it doesn’t involve understanding how planets millions of miles away determine the fate of Deidre, Ferndale Close, Gloucester. Astrologers understand the importance of being vague. Waffle like ‘You have a short window of opportunity this month, so be determined to get out of the house and see what the world holds for you’ is far better than specifics like ‘you’ll date a brunette sex-pot on Tinder, who likes cherry brandy and sitting facing the door’, which will too often be dashed by getting no matching swipes on Tinder for a week. Predictions need to be universal to attach, a kind of spiritual Velcro."

"The most important spice to the astrology soup is the audience’s desperation, which is something that lies within mankind; we all vaguely hope there is some preordained destiny beyond arriving at work to spend the morning anticipating lunch.  

However, considering a burgeoning UK population of over 60 million, and ignoring the 13^th category, there are 5 million people with the same star sign, and it’s unlikely they’re all having the same day, unless they live in Norfolk. But there are plenty who believe it, even claiming there is actual proof.

 

Of course research pointing to astrology’s accuracy, is generally carried about by organisations called the Spiritual Research Foundation Trust, who don’t sound biased at all, and carry out objective and empirical research, in high pointed hats. However, research is a double-edged wand. In 2003, research started in 1958 revealed birthdays in affecting future health to be rubbish. Although it only involved March babies, which might mean that astrology’s inaccuracies maybe limited to Pisces, who’ll probably brush it aside with their usual generous sanguine nature."

"These 2003 findings caused anger in astrological circles, with Roy Gillett, the president of the Astrological Association of GB, saying the study's findings, like the A3 on a bank holiday, should be treated "with extreme caution." Although he probably should have seen it coming, just like you did that joke.

Do we think Tom modelled for this, ladies?

Without star signs there’s immediately half as many chat-up lines, and without them our lives are made even more senseless. Anything we can clutch to, that gives our life purpose and meaning should not be underrated. Besides, what's Mystic Meg going to do otherwise, other than feed her cats; it's not like she can put her name on a serious CV.

To close, it's important to state that my birthday lies on the Virgo and Libra cusp, which seems such a balanced, considered thing to do, that it suggests I am a typical Libra. Perhaps there's something in it after all, but it’s likely that interplanetary solar systems have better things to do than helping us to decide whether it’s worth stocking the house with cherry brandy."

Ah yes, but, Tom, not only do Librans love a little 'on the other hand' type debate, but the sign is often called (by those in the know) 'Lazy Libra' ~ yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, I'm clutching at straws....  You can follow Tom on  Twitter, and one click will take you to more Idle Blogs of an Idle Fellow.

Now, which fellow Libran writers might like to indulge in more amusing, light banter with Tom?  If only JKJ was a scaly sort of chap, too, but he's a Taurus, and has already appeared on Val Poore, Taurean on a boat ;)

...so I've chosen the charming creator of Jeeves and Wooster, P G Wodehouse....

.... and Our Man in Havanna, Graham Greene ~ the writer who combined 

literary acclaim with widespread popularity.  Very Libran of him! 

Up Next: A Sunday Times bestselling Aries, on my humble blog!

Previous Posts:

Leo and Aries: Terry Tyler and Proofreader Julia

Leo: Anne Goodwin, Alex Johnson

Aries: Cynthia Harrison

Gemini: Jerome Dumont, John Privilege, Shelley Wilson,

Aquarius and Capricorn: Nicky Black

Aquarius: Cathy Ryan, Lynda Renham

Capricorn: Steffany R,

Sagittarius: Rachel Amphlett, Wendy J Lennox, Katrina Mountfort,

Cancer: Katie Oliver, Mark Barry

Virgo: Louise Marley, Elizabeth Ducie, Barb Taub,

Pisces: Maria Savva, Sacha Black

Scorpio: Gemma Lawrence, Robert Leigh, Catherine Hokin, Jenny Twist,

Taurus: Valerie-Anne Baglietto, Valerie Poore,

Libra: Jen Ammoscato, Joanne B

The Z Files: Gemma Lawrence ~ Scorpio

Astrology ~ a bit of fun, a load of rubbish, or something to take seriously?

I invited around 70 writers/bloggers to write a piece about whether or not they're typical of their sign, and how its traits affect their writing life ~ if at all...

Has your favourite writer been featured yet?  Links to all previous posts at the end of this one :) 

Today's guest, striding over to my blog in a subtly confident Scorpio manner, is fellow Tudor obsessive, Gemma Lawrence.  Lover of many things historical, she also finds some great quotes on Twitter's #ShakespeareSunday:)  Gemma's series and short stories have quite a following on Wattpad, and she won an award on the site last year.  I read her first published novel, The Bastard Princess, about the early life of Elizabeth I, and was highly impressed; my review, including Amazon links, is HERE

Tell us about the life of a Scorpion, please Gemma ~

"My favourite explanation of my star sign was on a t-shirt someone once gave to me which said: 

“Scorpio: Cynical, sarcastic, manipulative revenge-seeker”

Call me cynical if you like, in line with my star sign, but I’ve often thought that Scorpios were cast as the baddies of the Zodiac…. And as a writer, I have to say… baddies are important. We cannot have the light without the darkness, we cannot prevail over evil unless there is evil there to vanquish in the first place. What would Harry Potter be without Voldemort? What would Luke be, without his nefarious father Lord Vader? 

And there is something in all of us, I believe, which would rather be Dick Dastardly than Penelope Pitstop…."

"Baddies give the hero something to fight, to prevail against, give the author a chance to explore their own darkness, and give the reader a chance to take on the qualities of the hero they admire, to recognise and fight evil in the world when they see it.

There are exceptions in literature of course; it’s hard in fact to find a hero in a book like Wuthering Heights since Cathy and Heathcliff are both such deplorable characters, and perhaps that is why a book such as this becomes a classic; because it gives free rein to the reader to see what happens when evil is unleashed without hope of redemption."

"But we Scorpios are given some good virtues, perhaps to off-set the naughty ones: loyalty, something very important to me; focus, something I can see in some of my life… although not all! Courageousness, a trait I admire in many of my characters and I hope something that I possess, and then the trump card; sexy.

Oh yes, we all like being told we’re sexy, why wouldn’t we? But of course, many baddies have a charm and a magnetism which can be called attractive, perhaps because baddies are the ones to always act on their wicked impulses…"

"So, do I believe that I am all of these things? I can certainly see some of them within me, I think we all can. But if I am one of the baddies of the Zodiac, I would much rather be cast as a baddie with some hope of redemption… a star sign in which the good characteristics might prevail over the bad ones… I think that is what we all struggle with in our lives generally; to outweigh the bad in us with the good. We are all capable of goodness and evil, but I am sure that most of us, if we admitted we were not a Harry Potter or a Hermione Granger, would rather be a Draco Malfoy than a Lord Voldemort, a Lord Vader rather than an Emperor Palpatine….  We are, most of us, redeemable baddies struggling to be heroes in our own lives. And perhaps the reason the baddies of literature and film are so charming to us is because we recognise a little bit of ourselves within them. It’s not a bad thing, and what’s good about it, is that learning to recognise your own faults may lead to something baddies never seem to possess; an ability to control them.

So, do I mind being cast as a baddie of the Zodiac? Not really. I know I am, like most people, a redeemable baddie… and if nothing else, it gives me a chance to say things like… “Drat!! Tripe Drat!!” and “I’ll get you next time, my pretty…” 

Baddies often get the best lines, after all…"

I think membership of the typical and higher Scorpio club has been well earned :)  You can follow Gemma on Twitter and read more of her stuff on Wattpad.

Now, some fellow Scorpions to whisk across the desert with her....

Acclaimed historical novelist, the late Anya Seton....

.....and the (also, sadly, late) great, poet and short story writer, Sylvia Plath

Who's next?  An AstroSceptic Libra!

Previous Posts:

Leo and Aries: Terry Tyler and Proofreader Julia

Leo: Anne Goodwin, Alex Johnson

Aries: Cynthia Harrison

Gemini: Jerome Dumont, John Privilege, Shelley Wilson

Aquarius and Capricorn: Nicky Black

Aquarius: Cathy Ryan, Lynda Renham

Capricorn: Steffany R

Sagittarius: Rachel Amphlett, Wendy J Lennox, Katrina Mountfort

Virgo: Louise Marley, Elizabeth Ducie, Barb Taub

Pisces: Maria Savva, Sacha Black

Scorpio: Robert Leigh, Catherine Hokin, Jenny Twist
Taurus: Valerie-Anne Baglietto, Valerie Poore,

Cancer: Katie Oliver, Mark Barry

Libra: Jen Ammoscato, Joanne B