Saturday, November 12, 2011

       AUTHOR "GIVE BACK" 
     GRATITUDE BLOG HOP!
      Wednesday, November 16th ONLY!!!
      It's HERE!!  NOW!!   Today!!!



 This Author Give Back Gratitude Blog Hop is sponsored by the Women's Literary Cafe, for thanks for the HUGE kick-off NEW BOOK RELEASE for Melissa Foster's "Come Back to Me" and in conjunction with The Indie Author 99 cents Book Sale!  This hop is a THANK YOU AND A GIVE-BACK from that event to EVERYONE, and I am SO appreciative to be a part of this! Thanks to ALL of you for stopping by today!


             WELCOME AUTHOR
           PATRICIA ROCKWELL!!!

Patricia, it's SUCH a pleasure to have you highlighted here on my Blog!  It is wonderful to have such an accomplished author like yourself, here on my Blog for the "Author's Give Back Gratitude Blog Hop" for "ALL" my Readers to enjoy hearing from and about all 'your' accomplishments HERE!

READERS, YOU HAVE A CHANCE AT WINNING "1" OF 4 BOOKS with "3" DIFFERENT WINNERS just by leaving a comment WITH your email address so we can contact you!!


***(Everyone - there are even MORE accomplished authors like "Patricia Rockwell" at the Blogs listed at the END of this Post after Chapter 1 of "Sounds of Murder"!

There are:
**FREE BOOKS
AND 
**MORE RAFFLES TO ENTER TO WIN FREE BOOKS!

We ALWAYS give ALL these authors the BEST ATTENTION to their works, and sometimes it is a thankless job!  It doesn't pay us money, or anything else, we do this from our hearts!  So ALL these Authors are THANKING US with this "Author's Give-Back 'Gratitude' Blog Hop"!  


ALL these Blogs listed below are featuring FREE BOOKS AND RAFFLES FOR THEIR BOOKS TO WIN *OR* GET THE BOOKS ABSOLUTELY FREE!  HOPEFULLY WE WILL HAVE A LOT OF "YOU" BECOME THE WINNERS OF THE RAFFLES THE OTHER BLOGS and get SO MANY FREE BOOKS at the other Blogs!
I know I am going to go and  surely 
GRAB THE FREE BOOKS AND ENTER THE RAFFLES FROM THE OTHER BLOGS POSTED AT THE VERY END OF THIS POST!!!
  
With the holidays coming up, as I have already said, I have 'purposely' scheduled "ME TIME only" for reading and writing reviews for a Christmas gift to me from me!  Time 'for just ME'!  I can't wait!  Every author has some sort of giveaway to enhance !

When?  Wednesday, November 16th ONLY!
  
A HUGE thank YOU, my Readers, for coming here today, and showing your support!  Plus, possibly WINNING ONE OF ANY OF PATRICIA ROCKWELL'S BOOKS!  I am SO happy to have you! 

Patricia, we ALL want to learn MORE about YOU and YOUR BOOKS!  Can you please tell us a little about yourself, please?  I would LOVE to hear how you came to write these "cozy" mystery books!  Mysteries are one of my FAVORITE Genres!  I could not be paired up with a better author!  From what I hear in your reviews, we CANNOT POSSIBLY guess who the culprit is!  So, tell us ALL about it, Patricia Rockwell, please!!!

                  Patricia Rockwell, Author



I’m really thrilled to be interviewed here on your blog as part of Melissa Foster’s Gratitude Blog Hop.  As an author, I am especially grateful for all of the people who assist authors like myself to get the word out about our books.  Book bloggers are a unique group of people who work tirelessly to help readers select the best books available--and they do this with virtually no personal reward.  So, I’m really especially delighted to be able to express my gratitude to you, Laurie, and bloggers like you, for all that you do to help both authors and readers.


I don’t know if my adventure in becoming an author is so remarkably different from that of many other authors, but I will tell it to you anyway.  I am retired and I got bored being retired.  That’s the short version of what led to me becoming a writer.  I’m a life-long teacher, spending the last thirteen years of my life as an academic researcher and professor of Communication at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.  My specialty areas of research were deception, sarcasm, and vocal cues.  In order to study these behaviors, I had to become proficient using acoustic technology--that is, the measurement of sound.  When I retired, I took this expertise and developed a fictional character (much like myself) Pamela Barnes, who is a Psychology professor and acoustics expert, who becomes embroiled in various murders in her community that can only be solved through the analysis of sound clues.  The first in this series is SOUNDS OF MURDER and has Pamela figuring out who killed a colleague in her department.  She finds a recording of the actual strangling death of the woman on a master computer console and is able to extract information from the murder sounds to identify the killer. This book is followed by two other Pamela Barnes’ mysteries--FM FOR MURDER and VOICE MAIL MURDER.  In the first one, Pamela solves the murder of a local disc jockey who is shot on-air and in the second one, she solves the murder of the university’s football coach, from the voice mail messages left by his mistresses on his cell phone.
Just recently, I published the first in my new Essie Cobb senior sleuth mysteries--BINGOED.  This series will follow an elderly lady who lives in an assisted living facility as she solves various mysteries in her community.  In this first book, she figures out why an elderly gentleman collapses and falls into a coma after winning a dollar at Bingo.  I’m presently working on the second book in this series to be called PAPOOSED.  In this story, Essie and her group of friends will be asked to babysit for a newborn baby until the mother returns.  Unfortunately, the mother disappears and the women have to hide the baby because the facility does not allow children--particularly babies. 
I have a fourth book in my Pamela Barnes series that will be out in 2012, not to far away now! It’s called STUMP SPEECH MURDER and concerns a local politician who is accused of murdering his wife.  Pamela will be called in to help clear his name.  In addition to writing and publishing my own books, I also publish mysteries of other authors through my own publishing company--Cozy Cat Press.  My company only publishes cozy mysteries, which are gentle stories with exciting plots and engaging characters.  What cozy mysteries don’t have is lots of blood, violence, and gore.  They are similar to those mysteries written by Agatha Christie.    I have two other authors at present that I publish.  Diane Morlan’s books are TOO DEAD TO DANCE and SHAKE DOWN DEAD.  I’ve just signed a third author--Allen Boyer--whose cozy mystery GUMSHOE GRANNY INVESTIGATES should be out next year.
All of the Cozy Cat Press mysteries are available in paperback and ebook format on Amazon.com, CreateSpace, and Smashwords.com.  The Cozy Cat Press website is undergoing a transformation but you can check out how it’s coming along at:  www.cozycatpress.com.
I don’t always know what sorts of questions readers would like to have answered.  I’d be delighted to answer anything you’d like to know.
Best wishes, 
Patricia
You can find Patricia Rockwell on Facebook by her name!
You can find Patricia Rockwell on Twitter at:  par2323
I am going to post what Amazon has to say about Patricia because I think there is MORE great information that is super cool to know about!  Here it is:
From AmazonPatricia Rockwell is the author of the Pamela Barnes acoustic mystery series. This amateur sleuth solves crimes using her knowledge of sound. The series includes SOUNDS OF MURDER, FM FOR MURDER, and VOICE MAIL MURDER. Her new series, Essie Cobb senior sleuth, features a 90-year-old assisted living facility resident who solves mysteries. The first book is entitled BINGOED.
Dr. Rockwell has spent most of her life teaching. From small liberal arts colleges to large regional research universities--and even a brief stint in a high school, her background in education is extensive. She has taught virtually everything related to Communication--from a fine arts speech-theatre orientation to more recently a social science research approach. Her Bachelors' and Masters' degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona in Communication. She… Read more by clicking on this link:  http://www.amazon.com/Patricia-Rockwell/e/B003MR9BMG/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

I would like to interject I am very familiar with the University of Louisiana Lafayette!  I have not 'always' had this disability of a neurological muscle disease, and I have traveled quite extensively throughout the United States!  The University of Louisiana Lafayette is SO beautiful!  I'm jealous!   Plus, I LOVE books that take place in the deep south!  Now I am not sure if these take place there, but, if they do, it's a HUGE PLUS for me!  There is just something about southern characters that have makes the characters SO exciting! We'll see, huh?!


Currently Patricia Rockwell
is the author of two cozy mystery series.  Her Pamela Barnes acoustic mysteries include SOUNDS OF MURDER, FM FOR MURDER and VOICE MAIL MURDER.  Her Essie Cobb senior sleuth series begins with BINGOED.

(I wanted to know what a "Cozy Mystery" was, so I asked Patricia.  She said they are mysteries that do not have all the gore that some mystery books could tend to have.  These are nice and 'cozy' books that do not describe the gruesome details about the murder.  They stay away from any of that so as not to bother people.  I hope I relayed the information correctly as she told me!  Thanks!)

Patricia has spent most of her life teaching.  Her Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees are from the University of Nebraska in Speech and her Ph.D. is from the University of Arizona.  She was on the faculty at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette for thirteen years, retiring in 2007.

Her publications are extensive, with over 20 peer-reviewed articles in scholarly journals, several textbooks, and a research book on her major interest area of sarcasm, published by Edwin Mellen Press.  In addition to publications, she served for eight years as editor of the Louisiana Communication Journal.  Her research focuses primarily on deception, sarcasm, and vocal cues. 

Dr. Rockwell is presently living in Aurora, Illinois, with her husband Milt, also a retired educator.  
Now, for the books Patricia Rockwell has written, keep scrolling down to see them all, AND don't forget to leave your COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS so you have your chance to win one of ANY of her books in this GIVEAWAY!!  There will be 3 WINNERS!  
 (If you are concerned with leaving your email address in a comment, do it like I'll demonstrate mine here:  laurieisreading at gmail dot com.  I 'hear' that those programs that 'prowl' the internet for email addresses CANNOT pick up our emails when written in this format!  Or, mix it up even more like this:  laurie is reading at gmial dot com  (I have left my email like the first format ALL over the internet and have NEVER had a problem.)
See, you don't even have to Follow Me on GFC OR TWITTER!  If you'd like to, that would be GREAT!!!  You can join GFC (Google Friend Connect) above in the right side column at the TOP of my Blog!  Twitter is there also!  My Twitter handle is @laurieisreading  Here's to wishing YOU, MY READERS, THE BEST OF LUCK IN WINNING ONE OF THESE WONDERFUL BOOKS!  GOOD LUCK!!! Gee?  I wonder if "I" get to enter??  "I" didn't even get a book!!  LOL!!  I think I will enter myself!!  Check out MY COMMMENT!!!






And, without further ado, here is Chapter One of "Sounds of Murder"!
THEN, SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE OTHER BLOGS PARTICIPATING IN THIS BLOG HOP!
ENTER THEIR RAFFLES FOR FREE BOOKS!!!
***GET YOUR FREE BOOKS THE AUTHORS ARE JUST GIVING AWAY AS A THANK YOU TO "YOU"!!'
Thank YOU for coming by my Blog to participate in this wonderful event!  I LOVE events like this, and it's NOT possible without ALL OF YOU COMING TO MY BLOG!  A "HUGE" THANK "YOU"!!!!


Chapter 1


It was getting dark and the wind was picking up when Pamela Barnes roared into the small parking lot on the side of Blake Hall on the campus at Grace University.  Barely missing nicking the tail light on Dr. Swinton’s old Buick, she found one remaining spot at the far end just minutes before her graduate seminar was scheduled to start at 6 p.m.  She was just locking her Civic, when her graduate assistant, Kent Drummond, appeared.
"Hi, Dr. B," he greeted her, his ear stud gleaming in the last rays of sunlight.  "Got the last space, I see." 
"Yes," she smiled.  "Lucky me."  She tightened her jacket around her body.  The wind snapped her fine blonde hair briskly in front of her face.  Kent stepped beside her and the two of them strode purposefully towards the side entrance of the building. 
"Those were some hard articles you assigned for tonight, Dr. B," he noted, holding the door open for her as Pamela zipped inside before another gust of wind whipped up her skirt.
"It’s graduate school," explained Pamela, laughing.  "You don't expect it to be easy, do you?"  Kent chuckled weakly in response.
"Come on, Dr. B," he moaned, "Those articles were overkill."  Pamela registered his word choice with amusement.  Kent’s all black outfit with a blood-spattered machete design on the front of his t-shirt would never scream “conscientious graduate student” to the rest of the world, but she knew his “look” was all bravado.  He was one of her best students.
"That’s material you’re going to have to know," responded Pamela.
“If you say so. Oh, Dr. B, I ran that second group of subjects through the protocol.  You want me to enter the data tonight?” he asked, his sneakers squishing as he walked.
“You mean they all showed?”
Their footsteps echoed in the high-ceilinged main hallway of the ancient old building.
“Sure thing, Dr. B.  That’s what extra credit in a hard course like Dr. Clark’s will do for your turn-out,” he chirped.  How true, she thought.  Charlotte Clark was famous and with fame came popularity.   Students across campus wanted to take her courses on addiction, whether they were Psych majors or not.  And Charlotte always made her students participate in research.  Too bad she didn’t allow them to participate in animal psych research too.  Then her friend Arliss, who taught animal psychology, could benefit from Charlotte’s largess.  However, Pamela was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.  She would use her participants however she got them.
 She turned to the young man beside her, saying, "You can hold off on data entry until tomorrow.  Then, changing the subject, she added, “Kent, are you sure you locked the lab up properly when you left this afternoon?"
"Sure, Dr. B," he answered, "I'm always very careful with the lab."
"That's good," she replied, sounding a note of caution.  "We can't be too careful, really.  That lab has some of the most expensive equipment on campus or even in the state.  I'm sure there are plenty of people who’d like to get their hands on it."  She hated playing campus cop like this, but her Chair had been pounding the faculty lately about lab security.
"Like I said, Dr. B," he repeated, "You can count on me.  I always lock it when I leave and I double check to make sure all the equipment is put away and safe too.  Don’t worry."  Kent waved good-bye and trekked across the hall towards the seminar room on the right. 
Pamela noticed her colleague Phineas Ottenback coming out of the departmental office across the hallway on the left.  He locked the door behind himself. 
"Oh, Dr. Barnes," he said turning, eyes popping open as he saw Pamela, "Did you need to get into the office?  I'm sorry I just locked it."  A shock of wispy, red hair flopped down over his forehead.
"That’s all right, Phineas," she responded.  She thought it amusing that Phineas was always so formal, even when there were no students around.  "I'm on my way to my seminar.  I assume you’re on your way to class too."
"Oh, yes, upstairs." he said, in that quaint, nasal voice that Pamela found just slightly irritating.  As he started towards the large central staircase further down the hallway, he suddenly turned back to her.
"Oh, Dr. Barnes, " he confided, "You're on the Tenure Committee, aren't you?"
"Yes, Phineas," she sputtered, "but…but I can't, in good conscience, discuss anything about the committee or its procedures with you, seeing as how you’re a candidate."
"Yes, Dr. Barnes," he said, hesitating, "but, I was just wondering if I…about the possibility of …what you would think if someone removed their name from consideration for tenure?"
"Phineas," she responded, "You surely wouldn't want to do that.  I mean, I can't say anything officially, but I believe your chances of getting tenure are as good as the other two candidates.  I really can't and shouldn't even say that."  She now felt horrible for even having this conversation with the man.  Tenure was a serious and private matter.  It was a make or break moment for young faculty members such as Phineas.  Get tenure and you had a job for life.  Be denied tenure and you were essentially fired.
“It's just a thought, you know," Phineas said, "I was only wondering what would happen—hypothetically--if someone were to drop out of the running, so to speak..."  He pulled himself from deep thought with a strange jerky motion and suddenly changed the topic.  "Anyway, thank you very much, Dr. Barnes, for your honesty.  I would appreciate it if you wouldn't mention this conversation to anyone."
"Of course not, Phineas," she answered, befuddled.  He took her hand gingerly and shook it very formally, then quickly headed up the central staircase without another word.
How strange. She hadn’t studied the tenure portfolios for the Psychology Department’s three candidates yet.  She needed to get down to Charlotte’s office—Charlotte was Chair of the Tenure Committee—and study the files.  But from what she knew of Phineas’ work, he would likely be granted tenure.  He and his research partner, Rex Tyson, churned out several solid articles each year in top-notch journals, and tenure decisions were typically based on research productivity.  It didn’t make sense for Phin to even contemplate removing his name from consideration for tenure.
She stood there, staring after him for a moment.  Then, selecting her key to the department’s main office from her key ring, she quickly opened the glass-windowed door and entered the darkened insides. Just a narrow beam of light from the hallway illuminated the faculty mailboxes on the wall. As she reached into her cubby hole for her mail, she heard voices coming from the office of the Department Head, Mitchell Marks, which was located through a second small office where the departmental secretary worked. 
Pamela stood frozen as the two voices rang out behind Mitchell’s closed door.  It was unusual for Mitchell to be in his office this late in the day.  Pamela couldn’t make out the gist of what was apparently an argument, but it soon became clear to her who the combatants were—obviously Mitchell, the Head of Grace University’s Psychology Department, and, no surprise to Pamela, Charlotte Clark, the department’s prima donna, star grant-getter, and world-renown expert on addiction.  Pamela cocked her ear closer to the intervening office door, trying to decipher the cause of the fight. 
"For God's sake, Mitchell," she heard Charlotte Clark bellow. "I’ve brought this department millions of dollars in research funding, a beautiful state-of-the-art experimental computer lab, and hoards of fame.  The Dean had damn well better consider that, and the multi-million dollar grants I’ve brought and will bring to Grace University." 
"Now, Charlotte, calm down," said Marks. It was a request, not an order.
“Don’t try to calm me down, Mitchell!” Charlotte yelled.  “Remember, I have tenure so I don’t have to do his bidding.  And I’m not some boot licker like the rest of this gutless faculty,” she said, “not wanting to jeopardize an upcoming promotion or book deal.  I can say what I think.  And what I think is that this entire department is full of cowards.  And Mitchell—you’re the worst of the lot, the biggest coward of them all. You let the Dean walk all over you.  It’s time somebody stood up to him. All you care about is avoiding conflict.  But I don’t care about avoiding anything and I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.” 
 Pamela could hear Charlotte’s voice getting louder as she came closer to the door, then, evidently, turning back to Mitchell as he called out to her.
Charlotte, for heaven’s sake, don’t do that!”
“Just try and stop me!” Charlotte screamed back at him, and her voice suddenly became even louder as she opened the door between Mitchell’s office and the secretary’s office.  Pamela could see the outline of her body highlighted in the door frame.  Charlotte was a striking, middle-aged woman, with a beautifully styled head of blonde curls.  Her designer suit and Monolo Blahnik heels looked elegant enough to be featured on the cover of Vogue.  As she turned to leave, she tossed a final comment over her shoulder:
“And, Mitchell, you can forget that stupid Chili Cook-Off of yours that you so foolishly think of as a departmental fundraiser.  I won’t be participating this year!”
As Charlotte’s footsteps stormed toward her, Pamela quickly grabbed her mail and headed out the main office door and across the hall toward the seminar room.  She slipped into the room just as she heard Charlotte slam the main office door shut and storm down the hallway.  The last thing she wanted was to get in the way of an angry Charlotte Clark steam-rolling in her direction. 
What in the world had caused such a fight between Charlotte and their Chair?  And where was Charlotte going now in such a huff?  To the Dean as she’d threatened?  And if so, what for?  She’d love to be able to find out, but Pamela was sure the gossip mill would supply the answer tomorrow. 
Right now, she had to concentrate on conducting her Tuesday night graduate seminar in acoustics.  She looked around the room.  She could smell the old wood paneling and the faint scent of leather in the worn, but comfortable arm chairs situated around the long conference table.
Kent had positioned himself in his favorite location on the side of the table near the windows.  Two girls were already in the room and were talking to Kent.  He was cheerfully responding to their eager questions.  Luckily, it appeared the students had not heard the horrific argument between Mitchell and Charlotte that had just occurred across the hall. 
Pamela went quickly and quietly to the end of the long table at the front of the room and sat down.  Then she began to review the articles she’d assigned her class—the impossibly hard ones according to Kent--while she waited for her class to arrive.
Soon, three more female students and three male students arrived and Pamela began the class.  In no time at all she had forgotten—well, almost forgotten—Charlotte Clark and her tirade in Mitchell’s office.
"Okay, class," she announced, rising and getting their attention, "you read three articles about acoustics for tonight's class.  Who can tell me, in a nutshell, what these articles had in common, and how they were different from each other?"
One girl quickly raised her hand.
"Dr. Barnes," she declared, "Those articles were very technical, more than any other articles you’ve assigned.  Truthfully, I was lost."  She looked a bit sheepish, until several other students chimed in, in agreement.
"Let’s look at it this way," responded Pamela.  "Eventually you’ll need to understand how to use the acoustic technology described in these articles if you intend to find careers using sound analysis.  You won't necessarily need to understand how the technology works.  Even so, it's a good idea to start with a discussion of the workings of a piece of equipment with which you’ll all need to become very familiar—the spectrograph."  She stopped and looked around the room.  Everyone looked a bit terrified.
"Consider this," she said, turning to the chalkboard and taking a piece of chalk and dragging it firmly down the board, making that unmistakable sound that makes a person's teeth clench.  The class cringed noticeably.
"Now," she asked, turning back to them.  "What was that?"
"Torture!" yelled one blond man near the door.  The class laughed in relief.
"In addition to torture?" asked Pamela.
"I’d call it—just noise," ventured one young woman sitting close to Pamela’s end of the table.
"Just noise?" Pamela prompted.
"Yeah," added another male near the far end of the table, close to the door. 
"So, what is noise?" she asked.  In her mind, she couldn’t help but recall the noisy shouting match she had witnessed just moments ago in the main office.  She was still mystified by its severity and its reason.  Charlotte was notoriously hot tempered, but this was the angriest she had ever heard her--so angry, in fact, that Mitchell had seemed almost overwhelmed by her fury.
Another young woman raised her hand.  Pamela nodded towards her.
"I’d say that noise is a sound that isn’t attractive."
"And," continued Pamela, "what constitutes 'attractive'?"
The class was seemingly stumped.  Pamela waited.  Then, she picked up one of the assigned articles.
"If you remember in this article, the author presents a rather detailed discussion of the difference between 'sound' and 'noise.'  Would anyone like to describe that difference?"  No one raised their hand. 
"All right.  Here's where all that technology comes in."  She turned to the chalkboard and drew a wavy, measured line, and next to it, a very choppy, disjointed line of the same length.  "What did I draw?" she asked.
A tentative hand peeked up over an open textbook. 
"Helen?"
"I believe those are drawings of a vowel and chalk being scraped over a chalkboard."  She smiled sweetly at Pamela.
"That’s actually more detailed than even I was hoping for, Helen.  Bravo! I’m just guessing at the vowel or screeching chalk characteristics of these two masterful paintings I’ve just created for you."
The class giggled.  She liked to make them laugh.  All teachers, she realized had a bit of stand-up comic in them.  Even so, she was quite good at covering her true feelings when she lectured—and right now her true feelings were centered on the battle she had overheard earlier in the main office.
"What makes the first drawing different from the second?" she asked.
"The first one is smooth and regular and the second one is all over the place," said one young man.
"Right," answered Pamela.  "The first one is regular; it forms a pattern, just as does any ..."   She looked directly at the girl who’d brought up the "attractive" argument.  "Just as does any attractive sound, such as speech.  The second drawing is erratic; it has no regular pattern—it’s the pattern of noise." 
The class contemplated this distinction for a while.  The old analog clock on the wall audibly ticked off the seconds.
"Now," said Pamela, "let's take a look at some other characteristics of speech--our patterned sound.” 
She drew another wavy line on the board. 
"Let's assume," she said, "that this is the acoustic output for a portion of speech. We have sophisticated software that can analyze many acoustic features of speech and other sounds--even of noise."  She smiled and they all laughed.
"Let's say that this wavy line represents the word 'cat.'" She pointed to the line and she then added a horizontal and a vertical axis.  "Now, what types of features of a speaker's voice can we possibly determine by looking at this acoustic output?"
A hand rose.  "I believe if the word begins on the left and ends on the right of the line, that you could measure how long it took the speaker to say the word."
"Absolutely right," announced Pamela.  "That is, this acoustic wave provides us a measure of time--how long it takes to produce a sound or sounds.  What else?"  She looked around the room, hoping for someone else to volunteer.
Kent raised his hand.
"Mr. Drummond?" she asked.
"Not sure here, Dr. B., but I think the height of the wave is a measure of how loud the sound is."
"Right again!" she claimed.  "Excellent, class!  It appears you did read those impossible to understand articles after all.  The height of the wave is a measure of the sound's amplitude or intensity--or in layman's terms--loudness."  She drew some dramatically larger wave forms and some dramatically smaller forms and demonstrated the difference in their loudness.
"There's one more feature you can extract from looking at this form.  Anyone know what it is?" she coaxed.
"Dr. Barnes, please don't jump on me if this is wrong," offered the shy girl who had hidden behind her book, "but I think the third feature you’re looking for is the number of waves within a certain space."
"Yes, Peggy," said Pamela, "and what do we call that?"
"I think it's pitch--or rather—frequency," responded the girl.
"A perfect score for my brilliant class," announced Pamela.  The students were all looking around the room, smiling and proud.  Maybe, some were hoping, the “brilliant” label would continue through until final grades.  That’s what she loved about graduate students; they often didn’t trust their own instincts and they needed good instincts to be linguists or have careers in acoustic technology—as many of them wanted.  She knew that.  You had to be able to listen to sound and extract meaning from it other than just the words--like the words she’d heard shot back and forth between Charlotte and Mitchell earlier.  Now what meaning could she derive from that interchange?  From the volume?  The tempo?  The pitch?
"Yes," continued Pamela, "what we perceive as pitch is really the number of waves or frequency of waves within a certain space.  That is, a high pitched sound," and Pamela sang a very high note, "would have far more waves within a certain space," and she drew many evenly spaced waves together, "than a low pitched sound," and she sang a low note, "which would have the waves longer and spread out more like this" and she drew in the same space, fewer evenly spaced waves together. 
Pamela continued to explain acoustic technology and soon, before she realized it, several hours had whizzed by.  With some final words and an explanation of next week’s reading assignment, she dismissed the class for the evening.  As she was gathering her belongings, she called to Kent to come over.
"Kent," she said, "please, don't consider me an old fogy, but would you be so kind as to go down and check on the lab one more time?  Just be sure it's locked."
"Sure, Dr. B.," he answered, "I'm on my way."  He headed out the door, taking his book sack with him.  Pamela followed the last few students out the door, and then turned and closed the seminar door.  This door, she mused, didn’t need to be locked because there wasn't anything in this room of value--at least not of value to most thieves who were looking for equipment and devices that they could sell readily on the black market.  The department was more than worried about possible theft in their multi-million dollar computer lab, but the rest of the old dilapidated building contained little worth stealing.  She headed down the hallway towards the lab and the parking lot entrance.  Just then, Kent came running back towards her from the lab, yelling.
"Dr. Barnes!  Dr. Barnes!" he screamed, "Come quick!  Come to the lab!  It's horrible!  Hurry!

Patricia, it has been an HONOR to have you here today!  THANK YOU!!

**ONE QUICK NOTE ABOUT TOMORROW!  IT'S THE BLOGGER'S GRATITUDE BLOG HOP!  IT STARTS TOMORROW, November 17th to November 27th till 11:59pm! I hope to see you come back to enter this giveaway, too! I LOVE seeing you here at my Blog!  Thanks SO much!


33 comments:

  1. Thanks for the giveaway! I haven't read any of Patricia Rockwell's books but they sound great! I'd love to win one!
    temarasheppard(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a new author to me but I like the fact she calls herself a lifelong teacher.

    kdhaney at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Everyone!
    Here's my comment! That was awesome info about Patricia Rockwell, and the first chapter was GREAT!
    I am leaving a comment so I can try to win one of her books! NO!! I don't have one!
    So here's my comment!
    Thanks for coming to all! Have FUN!
    Lauire
    laurieisreading at gmail dot com

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  4. Hi Tamara! Thanks for coming!!! GREAT to see you again! Keeping my fingers crossed for you!
    Laurie

    Hello to Bingo! Welcome to my Blog! Thanks SO much for coming! I LOVED that Patricia is a lifelong teacher as well! I have found that with a lot of former instructors! They are in it for the sheer LOVE of teaching! I had an Aunt Rose who worked at a Private School, for such little money her entire life till she retired, for the sheer love of teaching! I think to devote yourself like that is just amazing! Each Summer she devotes all her time in France teaching there, as well! An amazing woman!
    Thanks SO much for coming by!
    Laurie

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  5. Hi, Laurie,

    Patricia sounds like quite a prolific writer. Haven't read anything by her yet. Love the cozy cat logo!

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  6. The books sound great and what a wonderful Hop idea. I would love to win one of her books.
    Laurie-J
    lauriej170 at gmail dot com

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  7. Thanks so much for the giveaway and the awesome Blog hop! Patricia is a new author for me..but Thats what makes hops like these exciting!
    kristinaparmenter51 AT gmail DOT com

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  8. great article and information about her books I love reading mysteries I will definitely have to check her out

    Paula
    MuseCBS@gmail.com

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  9. Dear Laurie,

    thanks for introducing us to this amazing author I am really enjoying this giveaway blog hop- from the Women's Literary Cafe, and I am going to make sure to read all about Patricia- thanks for this amazing giveaway!

    Sylvia Stein

    sylstein07@gmail.com

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  10. Thanks for the post. I love finding new authors.

    Lindsay
    lindsaywolford@sbcglobal.net

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  11. I love mysteries! author.jabennett (at) gmail . com

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  12. As an author, I know how important readers are, and it's important to keep them happy because they are the reason we write! Great post.

    Emerald Barnes
    emerald_barnes@yahoo.com

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  13. Hello J L Campbell!
    How are you! SO glad you are here for this event! I LOVE when you come and visit! How are things over in Jamaica? Where you have WARM weather while most of the rest of us are already freezing?! Oh, how I ENVY you right now!
    Hope you are well!
    Thanks for coming!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  14. Laurie
    Hello! Thanks SO much for coming by! SO nice to see your smiling face! I LOVE when my friends come by!
    Yes, this author is new for me, too! Sounds interesting! Catch that? Sounds?!!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  15. Kristina,
    Hello! Yes, she is a new author for me, too! You are right. That IS what makes the hops so fun and interesting, I completely agree! Enjoy the reading if you win!
    Thanks for coming by!
    Laurie

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  16. Paula, I am glad you loved the article on this new author,Patricia Rockwell! Yes, a new mystery author! I can't wait to try one of her books, too! They do sound interesting! Every time I write sound now, I think of these murders and how they are solved by sound and can't help but to laugh at myself!
    Enjoy this new author!
    Thanks for coming by and, Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  17. Sylstein,
    Hello! Thanks for coming by! I am happy to introduce you to Patricia Rockwell! I'm glad you are interested in her books!
    Thank you for coming by the Hop!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  18. L Wolf,
    You are VERY welcome!
    Thanks for coming by the Hop today!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  19. J A Bennettt,
    I am SO glad you like mysteries! They are one of MY FAVORITES, too!! Sometimes I can't get enough of them!
    Thanks for coming by the Hop today!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  20. ebarnes23, Emerald,
    Thanks for coming by! Yes, as an author reader's are VERY important and keeping them happy IS just as important, you are right about that!
    I am SO glad you came by today!
    Thank you!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  21. Laurie,

    Just popping by to see how the Gratitude Blog Hop is going! Lots of great comments! Obviously, don't include me in your drawing. Looks (and SOUNDS) like you'll have some winners! I'm so delighted to meet all these potential new readers.

    Patricia

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  22. Hi Patricia!
    I'm SO glad you stopped by! The Readers will be, too! It's going GREAT! Yes, LOTS of wonderful comments! I'm SO glad! I like your pun of (and SOUNDS)!!!! Referring to your books of mysteries based on Acoustics/Sounds! I love it! I am glad you got to meet these readers!
    You have a wonderful rest of the day!
    Maybe we'll see you back here later!
    Thanks!
    Laurie

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  23. What a wonderful idea. Gratitude for highlighting a talented author so thoroughly. Thanks to you and all the hard working authors.

    Stephanie Jarkins
    skoyless at gmail dot com
    www.gothmomz.com
    twitter: skjarkins

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  24. Stephanie Jarkins,
    Thanks SO much for coming by the Hop! We appreciate your stopping by and participating! Yes, this is through www.WomensLiteraryCafe.com if you'd like to check it out!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  25. I'm grateful for authors and bloggers who participate in great giveaways for readers!

    catherinelee100[at]gmail[dot]com

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  26. Oh wow. You are now on my to-read list. These sound like just my thing! I'm grateful for books--don't know where I'd be without them. And for authors. And for all the encouragement of blogging and author friends, and WoMensLitCafe...

    sheiladeeth at hotmail dot com

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  27. Lovely post. Enjoyed the excerpt, as well. Thanks for participating in the blog hop. Such amazing books!


    LizzieBeth1095@sbcglobal.net

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  28. Catherine Lee,
    I'm SO glad you came by to visit the Blog here! Thank You! I am glad you enjoy the Blog Hops! They ARE a LOT of fun, aren't they! I have made some of the BEST friends from Hops! I've also seen some of the BEST Blogs out there as well! It is all a TON of fun! I LOVE Blog Hops! For me, I love to see how other people have set up their blogs, the creativity! Believe me, there is a TON of TERRIFIC creativity! Wow! I hope you enjoyed this post! Please come back for MORE! Remember, another Blog Hop starts HERE tomorrow! It is also a Gratitude Hop to ALL the people who have participated in our Blog Hops all year long! There will ONLY be '1' request to do, such as follow the person via GFC, or Twitter, or some other way! That's IT! It should be nice and easy for this blog hop to be able to get to ALL the blogs and enter to win! Some of them can become cumbersome with ALL the requests people have you do! For instance, Like them on FB, follow them in EVERY way there is, and they take FOREVER to fill out forms and such! This one will be SO easy! '1' requirement and that is ALL! There are usually 300-400 Blogs that participate! Hope you come on by! Looking forward to seeing you again!
    Also - if you win this, I sincerely hope you enjoy it! You'll have to tell me how much!
    Thanks SO much for coming by! It's appreciated!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  29. Sheila Dee,
    Thank YOU for coming by! I am glad you found more books to go on your TBR pile! Yes! Where would we be without books and these WONDERFUL authors who write them?! Thank you to them both! The www.womensliterarycafe.com is just a wonderful place with wonderful, caring people! How everyone who joins get to communicate and network together makes it SO encouraging! I'm glad you are familiar with it! Everyone should check it out! It truly is a great place! Melissa Foster has founded the BEST place on the web to get together! Authors AND Readers!
    I would like to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  30. Sheila Deeth,
    I'm sorry! I originally spelled your name incorrectly! I apologize! THIS is the CORRECT way!
    Again, thank you for coming here today!
    Laurie

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  31. Lizzie Beth,
    Hello! Thank you SO much for coming by! I'm SO glad you enjoyed the Post! It is my pleasure to Host Author's and Blog Hops in general! I get to meet so many wonderful people like yourself! I'm glad you enjoyed the excerpt! Chapter One is terrific, we can expect the rest of the book to be just as great! Another Hop begins tomorrow! Read the reply above yours! It runs from Nov 17th to Nov 27, thru Thanksgiving! LOTS of time to enter ALL the blogs Giveaways! I LOVE hosting Blog Hops! Most importantly for the Authors!
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    Laurie

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  32. What a teaser. .loved it. Would love to read some of her books
    larissa
    lmbrunken at gmail dot com

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  33. LMBrunken,
    Hi! I missed posting a THANK YOU for coming to the Author Gratitude Blog Hop!!! THANK YOU!!! I'm SO glad you came to visit my Blog to read ALL about Patricia Rockwell! We are doing the drawing tonight! Keeping my fingers crossed for you, too, like everyone! Yes! This first chapter IS a teaser, huh? Her books sound SO neat about using SOUND to solve Murder Mysteries?!! Who would have thought?!
    Thanks again, and I hope to see you back, soon!
    Happy Thanksgiving!!
    Laurie

    ReplyDelete

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