| Friday Five |
[November 27, 2009 | 1:08pm] |
1. I'm doing some touchup work to a Another Dream, Another Reality. Hope to be finished the next day or so. After that, work continues on writing the Rogue. Fun fun fun. '
2. Thanksgiving was good. I'm still STUFFED. LOL. I hope to get some Christmas cheer in the house over this weekend. I'm staying far away from the stores on this Black Friday.
3. Anybody else love the Boom de yada commercials by Discovery? I love both the older one and the new one that just aired. I find myself watching and listening to them.
4. Ever heard of a marine iguana? A lizard who swims. The oldest has to research this for an animal project. It's sort of an interesting critter. They live on Galapagos. Darwin described them as hideous.
5. My backyard is a marsh. It has rained so much this November. I'm expecting ducks any day now. Heck, maybe even the marine iguana will come by.
May the muses have friendly ducks
Mechele
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| INSIDE OUT - Back Cover Copy! |
[November 27, 2009 | 9:03am] |
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WORTH THE WAIT
Ella Tipton is a survivor. In the wake of an attack that left her nearly dead, she’s spent each day putting her life back together. Once vibrant and outgoing, she’s needed to reclaim the best parts of who she was while retaining the hard won lessons. There hasn’t been room for any romantic entanglements, even if she were ready. Still, it didn’t mean she had to stop sneaking looks at Mister Tall, Dark and Tattooed himself.
Security professional Andrew Copeland isn’t quite sure when his jones for the lovely and decidedly skittish Ella developed. He’s known her for years, has watched her triumph over the pain she’d been dealt. Cope is no stranger to women, but he knows the nervous flush he gets every time he talks to her is different than any attraction he’s had in the past. Determined to get Ella to let him in, Andy does the one thing he can think of to get close: he offers her hands-on training in self-defense.
While Ella’s sure he’s just being nice, the prospect of being able to touch him and gain the tools to push away the last vestiges of her fear is more than she can resist. Soon enough, Cope shows Ella his feelings are far more than friendly and re-ignites something deep inside her. Before long desire and love turn them both inside out.
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| Writerly Wednesday - Finding Time |
[November 25, 2009 | 9:04am] |
Today’s guest blogger is the fabulous Angela James! I’m sure many of you don’t need me to tell you how wonderful and talented Angie is – but you can look below at her bio and see for yourself! In addition to a more than full time job, I have a number of hobbies and interests like reading, crafting, blogging (and I just added a new craft/cooking blog!) so it’s quite common for me to hear people say, “where do you find the time?” And so often, I also see authors saying, about promotion, writing and editing, “I just don’t have the time!” The truth is, for me and everyone out there reading this, we have time because we make time for what we want, what is easiest for us or most fun. Let me give you an example. I enjoy sewing, and I find shopping with coupons very rewarding (holy cats, you can save a boatload of money shopping the sales with coupons!) but though both are things I’ve done in the past, I’ve done neither recently. When asked why, I always say “I don’t have time” but that’s not really true. What I really mean is, “I’m not making time in my schedule for that because there are other things I’ve made time for instead.” For one thing, I probably spend far too much time working (according to my husband I do, anyway). If I put aside work at a reasonable hour (instead of writing blog posts like this at 9:15pm at night), I would have time for sewing for at least an hour each evening. If, instead of surfing blogs, chatting on forums and nattering away on Twitter, I shut off my computer at 9:30p every night, I’d get far more books read for pleasure. But I make my choices of doing one thing instead of making time for others. For authors, the same holds true for the questions of “when do I find time to write/when do I find time to promote?” The answer is: if you want it bad enough, you’ll find the time. I’m sure we’ve all heard from authors who get up an hour earlier in the morning to utilize that peaceful time to write. And how about novelist Peter Brett who says he wrote his novel with his thumbs (on his smartphone) during his daily commute? Those writers wanted to write and they found the time to do it. Don’t have time to promote? If you’re an author, it’s a bit like saying you don’t have time for your job. More and more in these days of publishing, marketing and promotion is a much a part of an author’s job as writing—no matter which publisher, following whichever business model you publish with. So how does a busy writer find time for these activities of writing and promoting? Evaluate your schedule. Make sacrifices. Be ruthless with yourself. Live for your dream, not just for the moment. So when you evaluate your schedule, look at what you’re spending time on and where you’re spending time. Could you get up a half hour earlier and write? Write on your phone or a notepad during your commute or lunch break? Give up watching on reality TV show (or five) so you have an extra hour a night to write or spend on promotion. Evaluate your time spent on the computer (this is a big one for me). Where is your time being spent? 45 minutes on IMs and forums chatting with friends? 2 hours reading blogs, commenting on the latest drama and chasing it around the internet? An hour on Zappos shopping for shoes? Keep in mind, marketing is part of my job. I know how much time marketing and promotion can take (hi, see me here? The one writing a blog post at…now 9:30 at night?) and what a time suck social media can be. When I evaluate my schedule, I tend to look at much of my time spent on writers’ forums, blogs and Twitter as a form of marketing and promotion, so part of work, but I also recognize there are days when I need to skip this so I can focus on other, more important things. Authors need to do the same. Make sacrifices. Finding time to do these things is not always going to be easy, and don’t think that’s what I’m saying. Sometimes you’ll give up something that will hurt (like an hour of sleep), but will your sacrifice be worth it in the end? In the long term, what will have a more lasting impact on your life—watching Dancing with the Stars or getting an hour of writing done? Be ruthless with yourself. No one else is going to monitor what you’re doing (though your editor and publisher might be interested in your marketing and promotional efforts—and subsequent sales numbers). But in the long run, writing is largely a solitary pursuit and you’re mostly answerable to only yourself. So you have to be ruthless with yourself. Allow yourself a few minutes of whining, grumbling and self-pity. Then remind yourself why you’re doing it. Because you’re living for the dream, not for the moment. Living for the moment is indulging in sixty minutes of mindless browsing on Amazon. Living for the dream is spending those sixty minutes writing the best damn dialogue you’ve ever written—or even the worst damn dialogue you’ve ever written—or sixty minutes of promotional effort or developing a marketing plan. Whichever it is, every word is one more word towards polishing your craft, every promotion is one more reader who recognizes your name, buys your book, tells a friend. Every minute you invest in the business of being a writer is a minute closer to reaching your dream, whatever it may be. Executive editor of Carina Press, Harlequin’s digital-only press, and veteran of the digital publishing industry, Angela James is a well-known advocate for digital publishing. James has enjoyed a long and varied publishing career that has included ownership of an independent editorial services business, work as a copy editor for electronic book and small press publisher, Ellora’s Cave, and executive editor for Samhain Publishing. James frequently travels to regional, national and international writing conferences to meet with authors and readers, and present workshops on digital publishing for both authors and readers of all genres of fiction. You can follow Angela on her blog, Nice Mommy, Evil Editor www.nicemommy-evileditor.com/blog or on Twitter http://twitter.com/angelajames |
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| Words |
[November 24, 2009 | 11:24am] |
When I was a kid parents were really fond of the saying, “Words can never hurt you.” As an adult I can say what I thought as a kid – words are important. They can hurt, lift up, tear apart, rationalize, give comfort, joy, kindness and surety.
I like words. This isn’t much of a surprise to people who know me, of course. I like to talk as well as write. Words frame things, they create a feeling, a lack of feeling, they cast a light onto things simply by their selection and use.
In erotic romance, or any kind of writing where sex and sexuality are part of the story, words are equally important and sometimes the search for the right words to set a mood gets forgotten in the never-ending quest to be a dirty as possible. Sadly in doing so, I think the book becomes *less* sexy/dirty and more checklisty “Page 56, time for anal!”
I know I use words some people don’t like. And that’s okay, we all have our own filters and perceptions. We like what we like! But I use the word “cunt” and I use the word “pussy” and I use the word “cock” – when a character would say so. Writing sex is complicated by how people think about sex. Some readers cannot read words on the page and feel comfortable. I’m totally fine with that – we all have our hot buttons.
However, I totally must object to the comment (and I’ve seen it several times) that women who ARE comfortable with the use of harder edged words for sex are somehow trying be men or are dirty and disgusting locker room whores. I call bullshit on that and it’s the kind of nasty crap that always keeps women down.
If *you* don’t like those terms, more power to you! But many women do, many women would say pussy and cock and it doesn’t make her a whore for saying so. This attitude really galls me, I have to say. It’s one thing to dislike a term and to not want it in your romance, but it is another to proclaim any book with these words is not a romance simply because these words exist on the page.
The solution is simple – put the book down. All books are not for all people. Personal taste rules reading choices, just like everything else. So stop being such a judgy grumpypants because others do like those words. Stop it with the gender slurs against other women whose tastes are different. I’m not calling you a prude, I’m totally supporting your right to be revolted by some words and to toss a book across the room. Even to say so in a review! I draw the line at being okay with women who aren’t revolted being referred to as whores or wannabe men.
I see this a lot with many things – people seem to think *their* opinions are general feelings. This is not so. If you don’t like a book, movie, pizza, song, whatever, that’s what YOUR opinion is. You have a right to that opinion, absolutely, but what you don’t have is a general statement of belief (for everyone) on the issue and any other belief is wrong or biased or whatever.
If you don’t like to see the word pussy on the page so much you can’t get past it, my erotic romances are not for you. And that’s totally fine – preferences make the world go around. I hate to see “slash” on the page and it may very well mean I put the book down. But that’s me and my preferences.
If I put a word in a scene, I’m doing it on purpose. No because I’m a whore, or want to be a man, but because I’m using words to paint a feeling on the page. It won’t work for every reader, or every scene, or taste. But really, it’s fine to understand words have impact and how they impact you may or may not be how they impact others.
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| Blue Ruin 4: Need You Tonight by Katrina Strauss |
[November 24, 2009 | 8:22am] |
 Blurb:
Blue’s summer is heating up in more ways than one. When he befriends Dusty Sterling, he sees the opportunity to give his master Derek their first true threesome. But first, Blue must meet a requirement issued by Derek.
Derek is content with Blue as his exclusive lover, but when offered the chance to bring the beautiful Dusty into their bedroom, Derek's definitely tempted. He agrees to Blue’s idea under one condition—it’s Blue who must seduce Dusty.
Blind since birth, Dusty is proud, independent, and knows what—and who—he wants. In need of temporary shelter, he accepts an offer to stay with Derek and Blue. The fact that he finds them both attractive doesn’t hurt, but Dusty must let his hosts in on a secret—his unique and sometimes frightening way of “seeing.”
When Dusty’s nightmares reflect a pair of real-life murders, Blue uses his connections with the police to bring Dusty in on the case. The friends grow closer both in and out of the bedroom, but their bond will truly be tested by the evil that lurks in plain sight.
Bottom line up front:
Blue didn't annoy me as much as he did the last two books. Horny little bastage.
The rest:
Blue is back again, and the bodies are piling up as usual. And, as usual, there's yet another toy in the bed.
Blue finally meets pretty Dusty, the pretty silver-haired kid Derek was drooling over in the last story. By magical coincidence, he's Jodi's neighbor. Blue remembers how hard Derek was staring at Dusty, and decides to give his master a gift wrapped pressie. Of course, he's attracted to Dusty as well, so it's win all around.
Dusty isn't just blind...he sees dead people. Well, he has premonitions of little gay boys getting murdered by whoever was copycatting Zack. You know, the guy from the other books who was killing kids who looked like Blue? Well, Zack is in the process of going to prison, and the murders haven't stopped. Dusty can see what happens as it's happening, which unfortunately isn't soon enough to actually save anyone. In between all these macabre visions, he's getting sucked and fucked by Blue while Derek watches and rubs one out all by himself.
BR4 was a bit different than the others in that the M/s relationship between Derek and Blue was a bit more fuzzy. Derek tied the kids up, but more for their fun and pleasure than anything. Blue was pretty much running the show throughout the story, with a sort of half-assed reining in of Blue's wilder tendencies by Derek.
Need You Tonight is a cute and fluffy book. Light, airy, no real substance, and everything tied up neatly in a bow by the end. No harm, no foul, and we're all happy friends. The contrast from the last few intense books I read was startling. I think I would have enjoyed the read more if I were looking for something sweet and easy, but I really enjoyed the last few epics and this book was pure Chinese food...great tasting, but surprisingly unfulfilling, yanno?
Still, if you're a fan of our favorite Bluenette, or just need a fun and fluffy book to aid and abet your post crazy holiday mental escapism, BR4 will fit the bill nicely.
Get your copy here.
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| Today's discussion...Discrimination in the media, Part Deux |
[November 23, 2009 | 11:49am] |
So since we're having an angsty ZOMG EVERYONE HATES TEH GHEYS week, I thought I'd keep it going with this one.
Remember at the 2003 AMAs, when Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera? It was pretty hot, no? And replayed ad nauseum. Here it is, if you live under a rock and misssed it. Fast forward to 3:56 if you want teh sexxey:
So please to be explaining why, when Adam Lambert kisses his straight keyboardist, does that bit get edited out of the West Coast showing of the AMA's? Discuss!
For everyone who got the edited version. Changed the video out because the AMAs are issuing takedown notices. Kiss at 3:29:
PS: not a Glambert fan, and this performance was fairly hideous, but boy is he pretty to look at! Also, that roll across the stage? Not planned! He tripped going up the stairs, but made a fairly smooth recovery, lol.
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| Because I *really* want someone to prove me wrong |
[November 22, 2009 | 5:54pm] |
Well pull my hair and call me Nancy. There are GLBT authors in the universe who think that they can submit their book for consideration for a RITA, and they it will not only be judged, but judged fairly.
To my knowledge, RWA does not accept GLBT submissions for RITAs. Will have to hunt for where I saw it, but I distinctly remember being told that het authors can choose to not read a book, and rate it as "this isn't romance', because to them m/m romance is not. They won't even review m/m romance! Professional mags will take an author's money for ads, but glbt romances are not even eligible for review.
Anyways...prove me wrong. Prove to me that there are GLBT romances out there that are judged for RITAs. Go back as far as you wanna and find me ONE m/m romance that has been nominated in any category for the RITAs. Just one. Doesn't have to have won the category, just been one of the nominees (would that be the finals, I guess?). Will donate $200 to the charity of your choice benefitting the glbt community to the first person who can find one. Feel free to enlist other people to do the hunting for you if you haven't the time.
ETA: The fab Katiebabs has generously added another $100 to the pot, so keep looking. The RITAs have been around since...what? 1980?? You can't tell me that not ONE slashy romance made it to the finals in nearly 30 years?
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| Selective pisstivity... |
[November 22, 2009 | 9:15am] |
...99.9% of the authors whining on DA, SBTB, and Twitter has it.
I've been thinking about this for a few days, and the more posts I see, the more annoyed I get.
This whole Harlequin getting into the vanity pub biz and RWA removing HQN's eligibility, and the authors who write for HQN whimpering and whining is bullshit. Yeah, and the authors who say they're so proud of how RWA took a stand against evil? You're fucktards too.
Where was all this wailing and gnashing of teeth and pulling out of hair and writing long blog posts protesting when RWA refused to allow GLBT authors to be recognized? When RWA pointed out that even if they did make GLBT books eligible for RITAs, they wouldn't be able to find anyone in their membership willing to read and judge them?
WTF with the double standard here? Why is it unfair that an author is 'being punished' by RWA for a decision their publisher made, when other authors who also write perfectly legitimate books can't get recognized either? Sucks to be part of the out crowd, dosn't it? But it was never a problem and it was never unfair until it happened to a large section of bestselling authors, rather than a small niche of relative unknowns.
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| Novelists Inc Responds |
[November 22, 2009 | 9:02am] |
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NINC members received this by mail this morning. It will be posted at their site and members were encouraged to share it:
Novelists, Inc. Responds to Disturbing Developments in Publishing: Vanity publishing is not new, although the Internet has become a lucrative feeding ground for vanity publishers. Presented with enough enthusiastic jargon and color graphics, a hopeful author might well be convinced that he has stumbled upon a fantastic new way of bringing his stories, his voice, to the reading public. Alas, the truth is that vanity publishing is still the same old opportunistic hag dressed up in new clothing, with the added flash and dash of savvy marketing. It still exists to part dreamers from their money, with very little hope of return. The dangled bait never changes, the creatively couched language suggesting that all these good things "could, may, might possibly, perhaps" happen for you if you choose one from column A and two from Column B on their à la carte menu of pricey services. There is now a new, deeply disturbing twist being applied to this age-old money grab. Publishers with brand names, currently enjoying respectable reputations within the industry and with the reading public, are putting both on the chopping block in order to get a share of the vanity publishing market. It takes years to build a respected name and reputation in this industry. Losing that respect happens much more quickly, sometimes overnight. No authors' organization can prevent a publisher from setting up a vanity publishing division. Writers' organizations can, however, speak firmly and clearly about the sort of egregious business practices that reflect badly on our entire industry. Ninc strongly advocates that any and all publishing houses that now operate or are in the planning stages of creating vanity publishing arms do so ethically and responsibly, while adhering to accepted standards of full disclosure. This includes not using the same or a similar name for the vanity division of their royalty-paying publishing house. Ninc further strongly advocates that these houses either cease and desist or do not institute the practice of steering hopeful writers who are rejected by the royalty-paying divisions of their companies into the open arms of their vanity publishing offshoot. To do otherwise demeans the publisher's brand and robs credibility from every one of its conventional, contracted authors. For Those Considering Vanity Publishing Novelists, Inc. (Ninc) is an international organization devoted to the needs of multi-published authors of novel-length popular fiction. Ninc has no unpublished members; all are experienced, savvy, and educated in the various perils and pitfalls that await the unwary writer in search of an audience. So why is Ninc addressing the subject of vanity publishing? That's simple. We care about writers. All writers. And we care equally for their audiences, the book buying public. Vanity publishing, by definition, involves bringing together a writer eager to have his work in print and a company eager to charge that writer for printing the copies. Vanity publishers don't care if the book is good or bad. Vanity publishers will print anything the writer will pay them to print. Quality and sales potential of the work are not priorities; in fact, they aren't considered at all. Ninc's advice to hopeful authors remains what it has always been: work hard, learn your craft, and network with other writers to share knowledge and information. And remember, if an offer to publish your previously rejected novel and thus become a "real author" by handing over a check sounds too good to be true, that's because it is. NOTE: As long as there are people desperate to be published, vanity publishers will exist, and profit-motive companies, no matter the size or prior reputation, may at some point decide that if a starry-eyed dreamer and his money are soon to be parted, why not hold out a hand for their share. All Ninc and other professional writers' organizations and consumer advocates can do, and thankfully are doing, is to educate people on the subject of vanity publishing. Please, before you open your wallet, take some time to open your eyes. Here are some places to begin educating yourself: http://www.sfwa.org/for-authors/writer-beware/vanity/ http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/ http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22 http://www.writing-world.com/publish/vanity.shtml http://www.panmacmillan.com/Authors Illustrators/displayPage.asp?PageTitle=An Easy Way to Lose Money http://www.sff.net/people/lucy-snyder/brain/2005/05/is-publisher-just-middleman.html http://ezinearticles.com/?Publishing-Scams:-Six-Red-Flags-That-Scream-Rip-Off&id=81336
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| Oh, Lili... |
[November 21, 2009 | 12:19pm] |
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mood |
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 bouncy |
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music |
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neighborhood leaf blowers |
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I got Spike Spiegel's autograph! Squeeeeeeee!
This is Greg's weekend to do the con thing at AnimeUSA. He happened to be passing Steve Blum's autograph line when it was less than ten people long. Gotta love anime cons. :D
Hugs and smiles,
Jean Marie
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| Passive Voice |
[November 21, 2009 | 7:17am] |
I was requested to discuss writing in passive voice. What is passive voice? Passive voice is what I did in the first sentence. Who requested it? You don't know, do you.
Why is it bad? First of all, it's not necessarily wrong, as in ungrammatical. Second, it's not necessarily wrong as in avoid at all costs. Third, using the "to be" forms do not necessarily create passive voice.
What passive voice does tend to do is send warning signals to readers - even if they don't know why -- because it doesn't tell you things like who requested the discussion in my example above. (Another publisher and editor, actually.) It's great for legal writing where who did it may not be something you want to get into. It's great when you are deliberately setting up something in fiction where you don't want to tell the reader who or what is going on in great detail. But generally it signals a lack of clear, concise action, which most fiction does require. (By the way, my fav passive voice line may be from George Orwell - Mistakes were made. That wasn't wrong or 'bad" taken in context. That was the author showing a society where no one took responsibility.)
Examples:
Her heart was broken by the mysterious stranger. VS
The mysterious stranger broke her heart.
And so reader, he was married to me. VS
And so, reader, I married him.
I often fall into passive voice in fiction writing when I'm feeling lazy or unsure where I want my characters to go. It tends to happen when you summarize things, rather than showing action. But telling not showing is another issue -- one that passive voice can highlight because they often trot along together, making readers fall asleep.
Tell me who did what up front, make the actor act and not be acted upon. That doesn't mean the sentences have to be simplistic -- it makes them sharper and more dynamic and often makes the characters and their actions sharper and more dynamic as well.
Treva Harte
www.Loose-Id.com
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| Ward Theater Sneak Peak |
[November 21, 2009 | 2:47am] |
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mood |
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music |
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Ancients Behaving Badly: Julius Caesar |
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I've posted a sneak peak of the next installment of Ward Theater, "Green Eyes", at Beyond the Veil. It'll go live at JeanMarieWard.com on December 1, but until then, if you want to read it, you've got to go BtV.
Enjoy!
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| TGIF |
[November 20, 2009 | 4:36pm] |
Not a lot of reading this week I’m sorry to say. I’ve been working on Inside Out, my next contemporary for Berkley and finishing up an extended partial for my agent on an older project that I had to back burner until I had the time to get back to it again. I realize I’ve neglected to share some good news! COMING UNDONE received a TOP PICK from RT Booklovers Magazine! Dane revisits the Brown family from Laid Bare in this knockout erotic tale. This is a major “feel good” book about two people rebounding from hard knocks without bitterness. It also comes with emotionally mature characters, palpable love and caring among family and friends, an adorable child and suspense. If that’s not enough, there is also passionate fun and intense sex. Hero Brody is a winner — sensitive and sexy. Thank you RT Magazine and Joyce Morgan for this wonderful review! I’ve also signed on to be part of the Mammoth Book of Hot Romance along with some of the best hot romance writers around (Charlene Teglia, Shiloh Walker, Sasha White, and Michelle Pillow to just name a few) This has been a very long week. Lots of stuff going on, lots of stuff to think about as things develop. I am really looking forward to this weekend to chill out a bit. If you’d like to relax and you love well written, hot romance - Alison Kent’s With Extreme Pleasure is a FREEEE download at Amazon! Have a great Friday, everyone. |
| Mediocrity Should Not Be Our Goal |
[November 20, 2009 | 4:35pm] |
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Today I read in utter horror, a woman attempt to take Nora Roberts to task for being: Old, too successful, stupid, bitter and a host of other things. You know what? That pisses me off and here is my response to the line of argument that getting published is hard and how dare authors take this “opportunity” away from unpublished authors:
For heaven’s sake – is it news that things are hard? Is it news that it takes a lot of time, effort and perseverance to make it in ANY profession?
Anything worth having is worth working for.
There are no magic beans. Even for a few grand, you still don’t have what you think you do. There are no shortcuts. There is only how hard you work and how much time and commitment you put into it.
I find the “well you’re Nora and no one else is so why talk about it” stuff to be disturbingly lazy. Yes. LAZY. We should all strive to be the best we can, not hold up the highest levels of success as something unachievable and therefore not worth the time. I get this same line of whining when I talk about digital publishing – that since I make a good living at it, I’m not a good spokesperson since many don’t. Bullshit. So we should what? Aspire to being meh? Do I think I’m Nora? Heck no. Does that mean I’m going to give up? Pfft.
We should admire and aspire to be like the best in our chosen professions, not just settle for mediocrity because it’s hard to be a success.
Stop your whining and write the best book you can. And if Nora Roberts, a success story not just in our genre but in general, can’t weigh in on a topic about the profession she’s so very successful at, who can? The bitters?
I’d rather take advice from a success than a bitter.
Pay to get a book photocopied or not, but don’t pretend it’s not vanity publishing and stop pretending it’s somehow because you’re too edgy for NY or everyone is too old or too stodgy or you know, just works harder than you do.
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| Friday Five |
[November 20, 2009 | 11:30am] |
1. Edits are in on Settler's Mine 5: The Man. Whoo hooo. Getting closer!
2. I'm up to 10 K on the new Settler's Mine. Had a hard time writing the past few days. Had a disappointment. But I'm bouncing back now!
3. I have a Snoopy playing piano on my desk. It needs to move. LOL I keep hitting it to hear the songs.
4. Anyone watching V? I'm intrigued. I hear the numbers are falling fast. I hope they don't leave me hanging.
5. I'm so glad that the actors who were on Firefly and Serenity have been finding other work. Summer Glau aka River has been in Terminator and just joined Dollhouse. Adam Baldwin aka Jayne is on Chuck. Alan Tudyk aka Wash was on Dollhouse and is now on V (of which he's really impressed me. I was quite worried when he was going to be on Dollhouse because Wash was so different than what he'd be playing and he turned out an excellent performance. He's doing the same on V). Jewel Straite was on Stargate Atlantis. Sean Maher (Simon), Ron Glass(Shepherd Book), and Gina Torres (Zoe) have done various things. And of course Nathan Fillion (Capt. Mal) is Castle, which is quickly becoming my favorite show.
May the muses have favorite shows
Mechele
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| A Shout Out to Gratitude |
[November 19, 2009 | 4:40pm] |
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I was thinking last night about the authors I admire so much. I’ve wanted to write on this and I’ve mentioned them many times here before, but it’s hard because I don’t want to forget anyone or leave anyone out or make anyone feel bad.
But in truth – romance more than a lot of other genres is about mentoring and relationships. I did not get where I am today without help and support. I believe in the power of connection and relationships and I think it deserves a space. So I wanted to say thank you to a few people today and every Thursday -
Jennifer Cruisie – I don’t know her, but I do know that when I read Welcome To Temptation I realized romance could be so much more than the stereotype. It could be witty and filled with flawed people doing flawed stuff and you still want them to have their HEA.
Nora Roberts – every time I read one of her books there’s at least one moment when I think, “wow, that is so clever and subtle!” with her characters. She’s one of my idols when it comes to characterization.
Anne Stuart – she’s one of the reasons I write romance because her books break rules and flout convention and they work. Her heroes are dark and twisty and she’s got a magic touch. If I can have a career even half as varied and impressive as hers, I’d die a happy woman.
On to people I know:
Jaci Burton – when I first started out, I watched people to see how they behaved, how they promoted and carried themselves. Jaci has always been an author I’ve admired because she’s professional and yet straightforward, warm, beyond helpful and supportive and she’s a great writer. (edited to add – she also just announced a fabulous two book romantic suspense deal with MIRA! YAY!!)
Alison Kent – I’m sure I’ve scared her a time or two with my fangirl gushing, but she’s up there with Stuart when it comes to unconventional characters doing unexpected things. I remember picking up a Blaze and thinking, “WOW, she totally went there and back!” and she does it with humor and lots of sexy chemistry. She’s also never stingy with her advice and support. She does so much for authors and she’s one of my idols.
(There are more – but I’m gonna let these five ladies have the spotlight today. Next Thursday I’ll be back with more!
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| Change of Heart by Mary Calmes |
[November 19, 2009 | 12:45pm] |
 Blurb:
As a young gay man—and a werepanther—all Jin Rayne yearns for is a normal life. Having fled his past, he wants nothing more than to start over, but Jin’s old life doesn’t want to let him go. When his travels bring him to a new city, he crosses paths with the leader of the local were-tribe. Logan Church is a shock and an enigma, and Jin fears that Logan is both the mate he fears and the love of his life. Jin doesn't want to go back to the old ways, and mating would irrevocably tie him to them.
But Jin is the mate Logan needs at his side to help him lead his tribe, and he won't give Jin up so easily. It will take time and trust for Jin to discover the joy in belonging to Logan and how to love without restraint.
Bottom line up front:
Finally! A book from DSP that was a well-paced, delicious read. And it had a very pretty cover.
The rest:
Jin is a werepanther who was rather rudely exiled from his birth pack by none other than his own father. Sadly, daddy dearest couldn't have just issued a polite "feel free to leave" after Jin came out to the pack. Oh, no. Instead, he and the rest of the pack stripped Jin naked and beat him until they thought he was dead, then dragged his carcass behind a vehicle to the middle of nowhere and left him there. Luckily for Jin, his best friend since forever, Crane, saved his life and the two ran away together.
The two friends randomly wander from town to town, doing odd jobs. Their relative anonymity came to an abrupt halt when they save the sister of one of the local pack leaders. Jin meets the guy, finds out that he's the mate that he's always avoided, and spends the rest of the story going back and forth between needing his independence and wanting to belong.
Jin is absolutely darling. He's got the usual hangups of a young gay man who was rather unceremoniously kicked out of the only life he'd ever knows. Despite this, he worked, and was just a pleasure to follow along. There were some pack dynamics that were a bit fuzzy. We're told Jin is this thing called a reah, which is supposedly rare and valuable, but I'm not sure I understood what the heck a reah is supposed to do, exactly. Jin seemed to just have a charisma booster that made everyone like him. His responsibilities within the pack were a bit evocative of what an omega would do, but although the fact that he *had* responsibilities was mentioned several times, he didn't actually do anything that I could see, and what his tasks were or should have been weren't clearly delineated.
I didn't quite buy a few bits in the story in relation to the mating with Logan. As typical with were animals of any type, their society was generally het. It was unusual for any werepanther to be gay. Logan himself was straight, and was in fact in the process of marrying the sister of another local pack leader when Jin came along. Still, Logan went right into rimming and sucking Jin off with nary a blink, shrugging it all off under the oft repeated phrase of "well, we're mates". That's nice, but Gay For You isn't my favorite trope, and it stretches the bounds of what I'm willing to believe to have a guy play hooky at his own engagement party to a woman to stick his tongue up some guy's ass.
Still, I was intrigued by the Egyptian mythology themes interwoven throughout the story, and the alternate civilization built on worship of Bast, my favorite Goddess of them all. The secondary characters were all sharply painted, and contributed to what was an overall compelling story.
I thought I was all were'd out, but I very much enjoyed Change of Heart, and can only hope that it's the fabulous start of a new favorite series by a new-to-me author. Calmes is the first author I've read in recent memory who is tempting me to do a little research and glom the backlist, if one exists.
Get your copy here.
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| Blogging for a Friend |
[November 19, 2009 | 12:17am] |
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Deep Secrets: The Ballard Gallipoli Expedition |
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Bianca D'Arc was one of the first Samhain writers I met live--and one of the nicest. Her paranormal romances, usually featuring m/f/m menage, have won numerous awards, and in January her first m/f/m zombie romance will be released from Kensington. This is all great professional news for her.
What's not great is what's happening in her personal life. Her mom is very, very ill. As a result, she's not even thinking about promoting her latest Samhain release, Dragon Storm. So the rest of us at Beyond the Veil are trying to help out. BtV's fearless leader, Carolan, has posted the publisher's blurb and a link to an excerpt. If paranormal menage--with dragons--is your thing, you won't be disappointed.
Cheers,
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