Sunday, April 23, 2023

RRR presents... The Heart Ladder by Sibby Spencer - GUEST POST!


Hello, hello!
Time to start your day the bookish way as we welcome our first tour of two courtesy of Rachel's Random Resources.  First up, a work of Historical Fiction that takes us to times of war, as we see the aftereffects the ripple throughout the ages.  It sounds like a harrowing story of some love, much loss, and mysterious agendas, so take a closer peek below and then KEEP READING as the author shares a special GUEST POST Redefining Fear in the Modern World.




The Heart Ladder
by
Sibby Spencer


About the book...

As the war in Vietnam stutters to a close, a heavily pregnant Faith flees America for a new life in England. Leaving behind everything she knew, including the mystery of what happened to the father of her unborn child after he went missing behind enemy lines. Three decades on and her son, thirty-something slacker Dan, knows he's wasting his life in pubs, nightclubs, and his dead-end job. That all changes, though, when a man with storied eyes and an old army jacket introduces himself as the father Dan never had a chance to know.

But is Jacob, a battered and broken war veteran, really who he claims to be? As Jacob's true purpose in seeking him out becomes clear, Dan comes to understand that his life is very far from meaningless - and that the choices he makes might have deadly and irredeemable consequences.

Readers who enjoy genre-bending books that play with themes of reality and identity will love The Heart Ladder!



Amazon US  |  UK



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~~~   GUEST POST   ~~~

Redefining fear in the modern world
by Author Sibby Spencer


F.antastic
E.xpectations
A.mazing
R.evelations

F.E.A.R. - Ian Brown


The lyrics above are taken from one of my favourite songs: F.E.A.R by Ian Brown. I've been thinking about fear and what it actually is. I am very grateful that I can step out of my door and not be afraid. No wild animals will come to attack me, and crime rates in my area are low. I am not fleeing a war-torn country or living in fear of mine or my family's safety. For many of us, thankfully, our modern lives are a great deal less risky than the lives of our ancestors. However, anxiety levels in the West are through the roof. This evolved fear can seem much harder to tackle, and yet if we can change the way we look at it, I believe we can overcome it.

On a personal level, I have suffered with various forms of anxiety for most of my adult life, including panic attacks and OCD. I have managed to get these down to manageable levels so that these days I can lead, for the most part, a relaxed and happy life. I've achieved this by changing my lifestyle but more importantly by changing the way I think. Using mindfulness techniques, I started to separate the thought I was having from the reality - and see a distinction between the two. Once I became better at doing this, I found the type of situations that used to trigger my anxiety became less problematic, and the anxiety I experienced became more and more short-lived. I was able to step back from the fear and observe it, in an interested way: to separate myself from it and see it just for what it was - just a thought.

Of course, fear is the primitive mind's warning system. It once had a really important part to play in the survival of our species - and still does for those rare moments we need a shot of adrenalin to get us through: if we find ourselves or our loved ones in real danger. This kind of fear, of course, also presents itself when we are going to try something new. The fact is, we are in some ways much braver than our Neolithic counterparts. We might put ourselves out there in the public eye through social media, we might work in a job that takes us to different locations around the world, or perhaps we take part in risky activities for the thrill of it. With regards to creativity, each time we express ourselves creatively we are taking a risk. And lots of creative people feel that risk but do it anyway. Why?

Well, I think we do it because we are learning that fear itself should not be feared, and we are becoming more adept at using our clever, conscious mind to distinguish between real and imagined fear. And also, thanks to advances in neuroscience, we now know that we can form new neural pathways by creating new experiences for ourselves and 'storing' the positive outcome. So the more new experiences we have that turn out okay - that we survive - the more confident we will feel about embracing further previously 'scary' activities. 

And in this way, we grow and expand and begin to explore our true capabilities which are, in fact, limitless.


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About the author...


Sibby Spencer is an author, poet, podcaster and regular book reviewer for BBC Radio Derby. She enjoys playing around with the themes of reality and possibility, and creating characters who are very human in their flaws - yet capable of revelation and redemption. She loves getting lost in a good novel, swimming in the sea, learning new things and dancing in her kitchen. She lives in Derbyshire with her husband and two children.





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Special thanks to Rachel at Rachel's Random Resources for the chance to bring this tour to you, and to the author for the guest post to share! (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, this promotion, or those on the horizon, feel free to click through the links provided above. Be sure to check out the rest of the tour for more bookish fun!



Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!


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