Smashwords — About Marva Dasef, author of 'Mixed Bag II', 'Eagle Quest', 'First Duty', etc.

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Location: United States
Member Since: June 11, 2009

6 users have added this author as a favorite.

Marva Dasef

Biography

Born in Eugene, OR and a grad of the UofO, I still made a success of my life by constantly changing jobs and cashing in miserable 401K earnings. Finally, I decided to hell with it. If I'm going to be poor, I might as well be a writer. So, I R 1.

Where to find Marva Dasef online

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/mdasefauthor/
Twitter: Gurina

Facebook: Facebook profile
Blog: http://mgddasef.blogspot.com

Where to buy in print

http://www.Amazon.com

Books

Mixed Bag II by Marva Dasef
Price: $0.99 USD. 35680 words. Published on April 20, 2011. Fiction.

(4.00 from 2 reviews)
All the great stories from Mixed Bag plus ten more. Science fiction, horror, fantasy, romance, literary, humor: A little something for every taste.

Eagle Quest by Marva Dasef
Price: $0.99 USD. 38050 words. Published on April 20, 2010. Fiction.

(4.50 from 2 reviews)
Fiona, Hap, Billy, and Mitch make an odd set of friends, as different from the usual junior high school crowd as they are from each other. When Mitch, a half-breed Indian, decides to check out Bear Valley as a site for his Vision Quest, the other three accompany him. It turns out to be more than an overnight camping trip as the friends encounter a bear, an old man, and poachers.

First Duty by Marva Dasef
Price: $0.99 USD. 38370 words. Published on October 11, 2009. Fiction.

(4.00 from 1 review)
Nyra Hutchings, a young woman born into a life of servitude on a repressive factory planet, is desperate for a different life. When she's accepted into the Space Service, run by the organization that enslaves her planet, she discovers the truth behind generations of rebellion. Now, she must decide what to believe, where her first duty lies, and fight for more than her life against impossible odds.

Tales of a Texas Boy by Marva Dasef
Price: $0.99 USD. 34350 words. Published on September 8, 2009. Fiction.

(4.00 from 1 review)
Little Eddie tells some almost true Tall Tales set in West Texas of the 1930s. Guess what's true and what Eddie fudged on. Was it about the bear? Cage McNatt's prize sow? The skunk in the cornpatch? Guaranteed for a chuckle. NEW BONUS STORY: Ma Yote and Her Cubs

Marva Dasef’s tag cloud

adventure bears coming of age dystopia fantasy great depression history horror humor indians literary native american poachers romance science fiction space opera texania texas vision quest wildlife preserves young adult

Marva Dasef's favorite authors on Smashwords

Cate Masters

Angels, Sinners and Madmen

(4.56 from 9 reviews)

Shelter of Daylight Vol. 8

Visit their website.

Smashwords book reviews by Marva Dasef

To Inherit a Murderer on Aug. 09, 2009

A woman reluctantly takes on the creepy son of her dead friend. Why would Deborah not just turn the kid over to the state to deal with? First, she has promised her friend to take care of him. Second, she sees in the boy something of herself, a part of her that she has learned to control. Nobody else can help this child, but will everyone around him come out unscathed? I don't want to give any more details because the answers will surprise you and make your skin crawl at the same time. Excellent book by Ms. Ruek. I look forward to seeing more of her work. Marva Dasef Quest for the Simurgh (right here on Smashwords)
Sage: Tales from a Magical Kingdom on Sep. 21, 2009

I have a hard time reading on-line for enjoyment and I don't own one of those portable readers yet. That's to explain why it took me quite a long time to read this volume. Once I did get to reading, I found this book virtually hard to put down. Sage is a wonderful fantasy kingdom described for the reader by the main character. Demetria is a plant wizard with the ability to control and speak to plant life, which does tend to make them grow very well. Her husband, Ward, is a dungeon master who can control stone. All of the inhabitants of Sage have some type of magical affinity, whether to plants, stone, animals, and a variety of other talents. The Rats who live in a neighboring kingdom, however, are not amiable with the humans of Sage. Therein lies much of the conflict in these stories. In the first tale, the Rats have sent a plague of rotten mold into Sage. Who better to fight this menace than Demetria, the master gardener? With great personal sacrifice, Demetria, assisted by other wizards, fights off the slime threatening her land. In the second story, Demetria and Ward must rescue their son from the Rat Kingdom. They get some surprising help from those believed to be the guilty parties. Okay, I'm writing this review before I've read the third tale, however, I will absolutely do so and know I will enjoy the heck out of it. I've become a Demetria fan. I look forward to seeing more tales from the land of Sage. But, Maria, let's get this book in print so I can take it to bed with me. Now, that's where I can read for enjoyment. One last note for Maria: Fifty-five is NOT old!
...The Twain Shall Meet on May 12, 2010

I recommend j guevera's novelization of Mark Twain's return to the world of the living as he's carried to earth riding Halley's Comet. Set in 1986 Key West, I'll take j's word for the Key scene (never been there). His interpretation of what Samuel Clemen's would be like if he did return to the world was spot on. I'm a Mark Twain fan and have read most (all?) of his books. Using direct quotes from Twain and well-interpreted extrapolations on what Twain might say if he came back, j created an entertaining and interesting 'what if'. j has an easy, very readable style. His narrator, Reid, is a "t-shirt" salesman (note: pot dealer) who becomes a Twain fan through direct association with the great American author over a month while Reid introduces Twain to such modern concepts as nude bars, Disney World, modern politics and events. Well done!
Questing Beast on July 21, 2010

Excellent story. I'm definitely interested in the further works of Ilona Andrews (both of you!).
Walking Like Morpheus on April 22, 2011

It took me a long time to get to this book, and I wish I had earlier. Thing is, this book came out in 2009, but people will immediately think the author used Inception as a basis. Well, they'd be wrong. The book pre-dates the movie. So, this is more of a "great minds think alike" deal. Still, Walking Like Morpheus, is in most ways completely different from the movie. Both are about lucid dreaming, which is when the dreamer can control what's going on in his/her dream. Mr. Cox has taken that idea another step (which is where it coincides somewhat with the movie) of having the lucid dreamer able to control other people's dreams. Aidan is a lucid dreamer, called an Oneiroi (in myth, the sons of Hypnos), hired by the Hypnos Corporation, which has discovered a way to use lucid dreamers to give clients what they want to dream, rather than being stuck with that random weirdness we all experience in dreaming. During one session, something goes very wrong. Aidan loses control of the dream and is confronted with his own worst nightmare. He reports the problem to the company, realizing something is wrong with the apparatus that allows the Oneiroi to control the dream of another. Rather than looking into what is wrong, the Corporation immediately fires Aidan. After a bout of self-pity, he seeks to find out exactly what went wrong and why. Any more and I'd be clicking the spoiler box, so I'll leave it at that. Mr. Cox is an excellent writer and I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction and fantasy.
Missing, Assumed Dead on Nov. 10, 2011

Please see the reviews for this book at Amazon and Goodreads. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EN73FI http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11143385-missing-assumed-dead
Bad Spelling on Feb. 19, 2012

Many more reviews on Amazon. Eight 5 Star Reviews. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005URFJ0Y
Midnight Oil on Feb. 19, 2012

Reviews on Amazon. Five 5 Star Reviews. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UTL54A
The Emerald City on Feb. 21, 2012

I liked this book a lot. It held my attention from the first line onwards. The play on Wizard of Oz is handled deftly and not heavy-handed with th "look at my in-joke" attitude I've seen elsewhere. Most surprising to me is how well Mr. Beard portrays the first person voice for Gail. His understanding of the teenage psyche is excellent. There are a couple of downsides, but nothing that would diminish a pleasurable read. One of my main pains in the a.. (I guess the Osland Academy's rule against cursing applies here) is a bit of muddle with the rift watchers' roles since they're referred to both by their first names, then by "Miss Lastname." Maybe my brain cells are firing at full capacity, but I hate having to stop and think who is who. I got my copy at Smashwords and found a lot of strange errors (missing words or extra words that just didn't smell of typo). At first, I was aghast at the number of errors, but then caught on that the uploaded file to Smashwords might be corrupt. I queried the author about these errors and determined that a flawed file was at fault. The Kindle and B&N editions should be much cleaner and the author is making adjustments. If you got an earlier version with the strangeness, don't count it as a fault. This is a series, and I'm definitely interested in reading the next book. Best of all, I can choose to continue the series or not. I abhor books in a series that leave a clifhanger of gigantic proportions in an attempt to force the reader to buy the next in a series. My answer is always no. Give me a fully realized story in each book in a series or you won't keep me as a reader. Mr. Beard has done very well in making me WANT to know what happens next, rather than trying to force me to find out.
Ether on April 24, 2012

I enjoyed this story quite a bit. I have to really like a book to continue reading despite so many errors. Ms. Williams: Please look up the homonyms. You mixed up passed and past several times. The bad stuff out of the way, this is an inventive plot and well-written (ignoring typos and not-quite-right words). The MC, Daniel, was likeable and reacted as a real person might in the strange situations he finds himself in the world of Ether. Matter of fact, all of the main characters were well-drawn and had distinctive voices, something that is often lost with secondary characters. Despite the typos, I'd still recommend the book as a worthy edition to the non-epic fantasy genre.
The Marconi Men on Dec. 03, 2012

I'm not sure I would have liked this book as much as I do if it were about a fictional event. Since the Titanic is very real, Ms. Cockroft's account of the events focusing on a few real characters was very well done. The Foreword warns that some parts are fictionalized, but wasn't the movie Titanic exactly the same. Real people died on that ship and a few real people lived to tell about it. I very much liked the story being based on the telegraph operators (the Marconi men) because historically we know who they were and we also have evidence of the actual messages sent. This lends so much reality to the story, it was quite fascinating.
Monster Is in the Eye of the Beholder: Report of the Anthropological Expedition to the Planet Known as Kal-Fa on March 27, 2013

This is an excellent book. Note that I rarely give 5 stars to anything so I'll have some wiggle room on a review. Prf. Oliva and her xenoanthropological team are secretly invited to Kal-fa. Why the secrecy? The entities of Kal-fa are considered to be the spiritual guides of the Chu-nesians, the people who live in the same system, but the next planet inward. What they find there startle, enchant, and disturb the team. The two women, after their initial shock at the nature of the Kal-fas (not sure if this is the plural) proceed with their studies of the low-tech folk. A third member of the team doesn't get over his shock, but, instead, sinks deeper into a loathing of the Kal-fas. To tell you why here would be too huge of a spoiler. Lorinda Taylor presents a unique situation in the encounters between humans and aliens. Presented in the form of the Proceedings to investigate what had occurred on Kal-fa. Much of the transcript is based on personal journals of the team. This allows for a unique multiple POV presentation, especially interesting because the personal journals are spotty and incomplete. I was fascinated from beginning to end. This is a wonderful novelette well worth your time. Ms. Taylor's background as a librarian and teacher must be partly why her story seems as well-researched as if the Kal-fas and Chu-nesians were real rather than the highly imaginative output of her imagination.