Win Riley's Nail Kit

If there's one thing  Riley White is passionate about it's her... black nail polish.

ReGenerationSeries.Blogspot.com is having a free contest!

         File, polish, and custom design your nails however your heart desires.

Included in Kit:

Sinful Colors nail polish- Let's Talk Purple, Black on Black, All Mighty Blue, and Bleeding Heart Red.

Kiss Nail Artist pen- One black and one white fine tip art pens.


Fing'rs Edge Royal Punk Nail Decals-assortment of nail decals.


Pink Diamond -smoothing block, to smooth away those rough edges.

Ms. Manicure File when Ready- Three mini salon boards.

Ms. Manicure Strike to Smooth- 12 mini emery boards- for on the go.

itunes gift card- $10.00 toward your favorite songs, so you can tap your newly polished nails to music.

London SoHo New York City lights Mini Beauty Case- Small black beauty case to keep everything in.

Rules:
1. Enter on the ReGeneration blog or on my facebook page. To earn a second entry, share and post it on your wall for another chance to win.
2. Become a follower here or click the like button on my Facebook page.
3. All you have to do is post the name of your favorite band in comments.

It's that easy.

The contest will end Thursday, May 19, 2011.
The winner will be determined by a contest generator and announced
on May 20, 2011.
(I won't be playing favorites.)

Good Luck! I hope you win.

Glass Cases- Guest spot!

 

Sarah LaPollaSa is a associate literary agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd in New York and a writing enthusiast. She likes talking about books, publishing, pop culture, and promoting up-and-coming authors. Hence, her blog "Glass Cases" was born!

ReGeneration Post

In case you haven't seen the highly snooty NY Times "review" of Game of Thrones, or read the even snobbier "defense" of said review this week, then I suggest reading those now, but only if you feel like getting enraged. Both pieces can be summed up with the phrase "only classless nerds and boys like fantasy. Obviously, we all know better.

Today's story is not fantasy, but it does fall into another overlooked and under-appreciated genre - science fiction. Not only that, but it falls into the third category of young adult, which to the philistines who refuse to educate themselves outside their own worldview, might as well be "kid stuff." Again, we all know better.

This is all to say that I am very happy to bring you some teenagers, some futuristic worlds, and some clones with today's excerpt from the novel, ReGeneration. It's set in 2031, twenty years after human cloning first became possible. Even though human cloning is no longer illegal, not everyone accepts them, including high school sophomore, Riley White.

The author, Tamara Kelly is a mother of five (!) and somehow finds time to work on a new novel and, she adds, a few novellas "here and there," she says. After you give her story a read, check out her blog at ReGeneration Series. Enjoy!

ReGeneration
By Tamara L Kelly

Despite it being the first day of school, I was already in the principal's office. Mrs. Ward had seen my shoes and assumed they were against the school dress code. School uniforms sucked! Even though I went to a public school the district had changed their policies a year ago and forced us all into wearing “school appropriate clothing.”

It never failed that I ended up in the office, at least five or six times a year. I had all but memorized the school guidelines by now, especially the part about uniforms. It didn't specify what kind of black shoes were acceptable.

So, my thick healed, lace up Docs should have been fine. I was wearing the required navy blue skirt, white-collar shirt and had the tie loosely hanging around my neck, like a noose. My hair had been died to a black color, from the pink it had been during the summer, and a band-aid was over my left eyebrow, where a new piercing was concealed.

I sat in the hallway, now picking at the black nail polish on my fingers waiting for Principal McFarlin. In the rush to polishing them and my mind having been focused on the article I hadn't been as steady as I had earlier thought, slopping some of the enamel onto my skin and cuticles.

“Riley you're already in here?” Principal McFarlin barked across the hallway from his office. He was leaning to the side of his chair peering out the open door.
“Mrs. Ward sent me in.” I said, a lack of emotion resting on my face.

He motioned for me to come into his office. His dark stained wood veneer desk was neat and orderly, with only a small stack of papers to the right and a new name plate on the front edge. I slouched down in the chair in front of his desk, picking up the name plate and twisted it in my hands, while reading it out loud.

“Principal Marlin McFarlin?” I looked up at him. “Seriously! Marlin?” I snickered. He calmly grabbed the name plate from my grasp, placing it back on his desk, then nudging it just so, making it line up with the edge of his desk. Principal McFarlin was your typical middle-aged man with a receding hair line and a thinning spot towards the back. In-spite of me being in his office he was a decent principle. He'd actually listen to the student before administering punishment and sometimes he could be persuaded by something you said, which was what I was hoping for now.

“I thought it would take longer to see you in here Miss White. What did Mrs. Ward send you in here for?” He stood up stepping closer to the door, peering out at the front desk. It was obvious he was distracted by something else. “Torturing small underclassmen?”

“Whatever!” I turned in my chair to face him.”That really wasn't my fault last year.”
He looked down leering at me “So you say, but I'm sure that Sarah Copper would think otherwise, since you were the one to have started the name calling.”

“Mrs. Ward is looking for anything to get me written up. I guess my shoes aren't acceptable for the dress code,” it sounded harsher than I meant to, but I didn't want to talk about Sarah Cooper and her life as a pathetic and miserable wench.

“You can change into your gym sneakers.” he said. He stood to the side, towering over me, now giving me his full attention, probably attempting to intimidate me. I, however, wasn't about to back down.

“Mr. McFarlin, the dress code doesn't specify the type of shoe. Only the color.” I stood firm on my argument. He was about to speak when the main doors to the school opened adjacent to the office. Through the glass window of his office I saw a boy with brown hair and brown eyes walked in. He looked just as normal as any other boy in the school. I didn't notice anything different about him. He was wearing the school uniform, his tie was perfectly straight, his shirt was pressed, and his shoes were perfectly polished.

His hair parted and combed to one side. If you asked me it looked more like the uniform was the style of clothing he preferred, a preppy look. There were two adults with him, probably his parents. I didn't really get a good look at them, considering I was more intrigued to know if this was the boy, we'd heard so much about? They walked forward to the front desk where Mrs. Ward stood waiting on the opposite side. She motioned to Mr. McFarlin.

“Okay Riley. Get to class.” He dismissed me forgetting the topic completely and letting me off the hook. I wasn't sure if it was because of my argument or because of the current situation distracting him, but I would take it any way I could.

While reaching for my bag, “Marlin” walked out to the new arrival waiting for him. With all the fussing occurring at the front desk; papers being pushed in front of them, lots of looks from school staff and students, and knowing most of the time Principal McFarlin didn't handle the new student enrollment forms, I could only assume this was all for Liam Kingsley, the clone.

Frenemies

Even Riley White has a frenemy in high school. I wrote a poem about the conflict that Riley feels towards Bianca.

Frenemy

The things you say,

are mean and rude.

All you have

it a bad attitude.

I tried to befriend you,

but you can't let it go.

We could've been friends,

I want you to know.

I hoped that one day,

you'd grow to be kind.

However I see,

you're not of that mind.

You're bitter and snide,

selfish and brooding.

I wanted your friendship,

that's all I'm eluding.

I tried to reach out,

and give you a chance.

But I see that it's pointless,

to extend you a branch.

One day I hope,

you'll let it all go.

Becoming the woman

with a heartful of soul.

Sabrina Roberts

For starters, I want you to know I don't like talking about others it's not very Christian like behavior, but when you just asked me- how I know Riley? I thought back to how we'd met and became friends; both happened at different times.

Riley's never liked me much. Forgive me for saying that, but it's true. We've known each other for the last four years, basically since our first math class in junior high. For some reason we've always been destined to be in every math class together, no matter the semester or year.

I can't remember how many times I'd walk in and find her sitting towards the back of the classroom waiting for it to start.  One thing about Riley, is that she's typically on time, she hates to be late, to anything. A movie, class, or an appointment, she's always there, on the dot.

But I'm more like Teagan when it comes to keeping track of time, neither of us are as structured as Riley. Which of course bugs Riley to death. Anyways, about Riley...

Not until Teagan moved in, did we really start hanging out together. I mean, we'd talk in class together and say hello to each other in the hallways, but other than that, we never attempted to hang out together. You probably know some friends like that, right?

Once, when we where talking about music I started mentioning some of the Christian rock bands I liked. She instantly grew disinterested, and instead started listening to Mrs. Gilbert's lesson on Algebraic Identities. From then on, I could tell she would never seen me more than the Reverend's daughter. I think she see's me as a snob, or a goodie two shoes; I don't know what's up with that.

But, the thing is, I like being around her. She's smart, probably smarter than me, but I'd never tell her that. She'd let it go to her head and I'd never hear the end of it. She's helped me out in math class a lot and with out her, I'm not sure I would have passed. Oh, and believe me when I tell you how harsh she can be at times.

But, maybe I shouldn't say those things- yeah, I'll keep quiet on that one.

With Teagan around, Riley's more accepting, which is saying a lot to how she use to be. She's much nicer, trust me - big difference. I know I shouldn't say things like that, but I guess when it's just between us, I'm allowed to talk like that, right?

Well anyways, who knows what the future brings, as long as we trust in god and do the best we can, everything will work out for the best.

I really liked talking to you, you're easy to talk with. Thanks, for being such a good listener.

See ya later?