Did Wild Horses Survive in America, after all? Probably not.

Posted on 30/09/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Horse Skeleton

Skeleton of an Arabian Horse *

Horses can make headlines. Even dead ones!

Today, I found an article that is a few months old. It’s about the discovery of the skeletons of two horses and one donkey in California, obviously in ritual burial. Radio carbon dating puts the death of the horses sometime between 1625 and 1705 which is about 50 years before Spaniards created the first missions in California.

And of course, now people are speculating that wild horses never went extinct in the Americas, after all. What if they survived in small pockets? Continue reading →

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Winter Baby

Posted on 26/09/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Winter Baby

Winter Baby

Here I give you my new flash fiction tale, Winter Baby. Never mind the cryptic list at the top, that’s for the anthology we’re building. In fact, you can follow the link at the bottom to read more of the stories.

Genre: Fantasy
Author: Hannah Steenbock (which is a pen name)
eBook: Yes
Dedication: To all those school horses that have born me in my lessons Continue reading →

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Whales and Poison

Posted on 23/09/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Blue whales

Blue whales on a Faroer Stamp

Okay, this story is a little gross. Or maybe a lot. But because it’s about whales, I really have to share it here.

It’s also about earwax. In the ear tubes of blue whales. Ugh.

But you see, that ear plug, as the scientists call it, is deposited throughout a whale’s life. And it faithfully reflects the hormones, nutrients and poisons such a whale has coursing through its body throughout its entire life. And that’s quite a record, after all, those giants can live for decades.

And now, they have analysed the ear plug of a fairly young whale that was washed ashore after being killed by a ship stike (Luahine, anyone?). And what they found was … well, is a little shocking for me. Continue reading →

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Call for Antagonists

Posted on 16/09/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Dragon Coat of Arms

Dragon Coat of Arms *

I readily admit it: I have a hard time scheming. I am not a girl for intrigue. I could never hurt someone intentionally. And that makes it a bit more difficult for me to develop a credible antagonist.

Yet the antagonist carries the story for a large part. He or she (or even it!) creates the obstacles for our heroes, the challenges they need to grow into their heroism. We need antagonists in our stories, badly. Continue reading →

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Medieval Life … Includes Roundworm

Posted on 09/09/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Richard III

Richard III

As you all know, I write predominately fantasy. What you may not know is that I actually studied archaeology for a couple of years. So I have a good idea of how life really was back in those middle ages or earlier. And let me tell you – I’m quite happy I’m living in the 21st century.

Here’s one reason why:

New Research Shows That Richard III Suffered from Roundworm Infection

Continue reading →

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Archaeology Tidbit – Ancient Meterorite Beads

Posted on 02/09/2013 by Hannah Steenbock

The other day, I found some fun news on Science Daily, about beads created in Ancient Egypt. They were made from iron, and now scientists proved that they were actually hammered out and then rolled from meteorite material.

How cool is that?

Even more interesting is the fact that someone did this *before* smithing had even been invented – people were not using Earthen iron ore until millenia later. Who figured out how to do that? Who discovered that this strange stuff that fell from the sky could be hammered into shape? Continue reading →

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Back after a Long Break

Posted on 30/08/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Pu'ukani's Song

Pu’ukani’s Song

I’ve been away from this blog for a long time. That’s because I have been focusing on my other life as coach and therapist and putting in a lot of work in my website and offers. It’s fun to open up internationally and creating wonderful programs for people who want to change their lives.

But it meant that I didn’t have time, nor the space in my head to keep writing blogposts here. And I apologize for every time you went to take a look and didn’t find anything new. Of course, I also moved the blog to my own domain …hopefully, you’ll find me here. I’ll drop hints on my old blog location, as well. Continue reading →

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Some More Writing Advice – Beginning, Middle, End

Posted on 18/03/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Beginning, Middle, End

Beginning, Middle, End

Sorry for the long silence. I’ve been working on my other business … and that took a lot of time and energy. Even so, I’ve been overwhelmed with the great responses to my short story ebook, “Sequoia”. Thanks go to everyone who downloaded it when it was free, everyone who bought a copy, and most of all, everyone who commented on it, either on Amazon (8 reviews! Woohooo!), or in any other shape and form. You are wonderful! Continue reading →

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Launch of the Ebook Sequoia

Posted on 23/02/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Sequoia

Sequoia – a short story

Today, I’m officially launching my brand new ebook “Sequoia – a short story”. It’s free on all amazon stores today, so you can grab it right away and enjoy it!

Now, what made me write “Sequoia”? I really don’t know anymore. This is one of the tales that simply flow from mind to keyboard. I was reading a lot of shamanic books, meditating, thinking about nature, energy and how it is all interlinked. Fun times, and somehow, all this coaleced into this story. Continue reading →

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“Save the Cat!” – Ein Drehbuchratgeber

Posted on 22/01/2013 by Hannah Steenbock
Cat

Save the cat *

Stellt euch vor, ein recht unsympathischer, mürrischer Held tritt auf und tut kurz darauf etwas Unerwartetes: Er rettet ganz selbstlos eine Katze. Auf welche Weise auch immer. Und sofort mögen wir ihn. Der Film ist gerettet. Und der Roman auch.

So eindeutig und klar strukturiert kommt das Buch mit diesem Titel daher. Continue reading →

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