San Francisco

I'm in San Francisco for RWA. Having a great time! I'll post more when I have a chance to put some pictures up. More later in the week...

NCP Closes Reader Loop

Note: NCP has closed their reader loop due to so many readers and writers writing negative comments, many of which revolved around the company taking an author's proposal and writing her book using her name... Hmm, what do you make of this?

Warning, Please Read and Pass Along

On behalf of a fellow author, I would like to direct your attention to a post by Sydney Somers. Please do not buy One Dark Knight by Sydney Somers (from NCP), because Sydney did not actually write this book. She's gone through this once before with NCP. The publisher is apparently violating her rights as an author by finishing her work under her name without legal authority. To read Sydney's post, click here (post 25.07.08) Please pass the word. This is an intolerable situation no author should have to go through. Good luck, Sydney. My thoughts are with you.

*As an aside, I also posted this to the NCP Reader loop so readers might know what's been going on. My post has since been deleted by the moderator.

A New Read

So last night I went to dinner with my husband, a date night. It ended with a visit to Borders, where I had to buy a book. What can I say, I have a disease...book-itis. I moved through the romance section but didn't see anything that grabbed me. I perused other sections, jonesing for something decent to read.

Low and behold, I found a favorite author of mine I haven't read in a while. Robert McCammon. He wrote Swan Song, an apocalyptic volume that I've reread a dozen times. (It's much better than King's The Stand, in my opinion.) I've read most of his other work. It's though-provoking, horrific, and romantic. Yes, romantic. There's normally an element of love in his books, a saving grace that overcomes the nightmares he dreams up. He's a master in the genre, along with Koontz, King, Barker and Straub.

I purchased Speaks the Nightbird (great title), a historic thriller about a magistrate's clerk that takes on a case of murder and witchcraft. Looks great. I can't wait to read it.

Now back to my present WIP...

Chow

CONTEST

Contest Reminder:

If you'd like to win a free copy of Duncan's Descent BEFORE it comes out, simply post a comment on my blog (on any post) from now until July 30th. Winner will be randomly drawn August 3rd.

New Cover

Check out this hot cover for Creation's Control, coming to Total E-Bound in September.
I"m in loooovvvveee.....

To read a short excerpt, click here

The Dark Knight--A Review

First, I'll confess to being a Christian Bale fan. He's handsome and he can act. I like him. Second, I'm a superhero geek. I read comics as a kid but never collected them. I do, however, love to watching superhero movies. I dig Heroes, the X-Men franchise, both Punisher movies (I thought Tom Jane and Dolph Lungren both made good Punishers) and loved Spiderman when it was a live action show in the late '70s.

That said, I really like the direction the new Batman movies have taken. No more cheesy, schlocky storylines and smaltzy acting. Granted, Nicholson gave a great performance as a campy version of the Joker, but I like a little more reality with my fictional heroes/villains. Odd, but true.

I went last night to see The Dark Knight. Not for children, which should have been obvious from the trailers. Still, I saw a few kids in the theater. sigh The movie had a pulse that carried me through from beginning to end. More than a superhero flick, it had subtle nuances of emotion and character that make it heads and tails above most other action movies. Batman is never black or white. The Joker, portrayed by the incredibly talented, now-deaced Heath Ledger, stole the show. I was doubtful of all the praise lavished on an actor for playing a Batman villain, but Ledger truly gave depth to his character. He made the movie come alive in a way that's hard to describe. You just have to see it.

I recently also saw Hellboy II. Not bad. I'd give it a B-. It had humor and lots of camp, but it didn't reach the intensity that The Dark Knight had in spades.

The Dark Knight: A+

Catching Up with Carpet

What a weekend. Can you say, catching up?

I'm currently finishing up on some carpet estimates. We are living on nasty, 10-year old construction-grade carpets that were put in when our house was built. The upstairs needs to be completely redone. I'm trying to finish a lot before RWA and school starts for the kiddos in early August. And RWA is... gulp, next week!

I'm also knocking out two more chapters for a second story in a series. I've finally rounded a hurdle and am working like mad. My excuse for missing a few days of posting.

More soon! Chow.

Win a Copy of Duncan's Descent

Want to win a free copy of Duncans' Descent BEFORE it comes out? Simply post a message on my blog between now and August3rd to enter the contest. I'll choose a random winner on the 3rd.

Here's a snippet to whet your appetite:

“Until you touched me, I didn’t see Nathan in any other light but the mortal flesh encasing his spirit.”

“Are you sure?” He frowned.

“Yes. No.” She recalled that brief flash. “There was something. A small picture of some sin Nathan had committed. And it was ugly.”

Duncan’s frown eased. “Sin always is. That’s its nature.”

Sapphira studied him, wondering. “Is that why it appeals to you? Because it’s a demon’s nature to be ugly too?”

Duncan stared at her over his glass, his gaze assessing. “Angels don’t lie, do they?”

“No.”

“But you did, and quite well.”

She flushed. “I, ah, maybe—”

“So your nature isn’t to be what you’ve always been told, but to be who you really are.”

“What?” She took a large gulp of wine for fortification, and promptly set down her glass. Fermented grapes weren’t the answer.

“Demons are what we are. We serve a purpose, like those in the upper realm.” Duncan’s mien changed, grew more serious. “Because I congregate with the impure, with sinners and monsters, does that make me more evil than Nathan Shepherd?”

“No.” The answer was automatic, and she stopped to think.

“Was what we shared outside your bar ugly?”

“No.” The sheer sensuality behind Duncan’s touch had been anything but. “Yet it was a sin.”

“Why? Because your choirs of angels tell you it is?” He snorted. “Let me tell you something, sweetheart. Uriel’s minions were spreading their legs faster than you can spell seduction while I was tied up and helpless.” He stood and put his wine to the side. “Angels taking advantage of a demon. Trying to turn me into Uriel’s runner.”

She frowned, not liking the idea of Sarah and Abigail touching Duncan. Then the second part of what he said hit, and she flushed a bright, guilty red. “So you don’t think you’ll ever Ascend?”

Duncan barked a laugh. “Hell, no. Just because my mother was human and went to heaven doesn’t mean I will.”

“Your mother went to heaven?” A mortal had given birth to Duncan?

“Yeah,” he said sadly. “She had a bad habit of seeing the best in everyone. Dad did his damnedest, but couldn’t get her down below.”

“Right, your dad. Asael, a fallen archangel.” Why, Duncan had a thick thread of light winding through him. No wonder Uriel thought he had a shot at turning the demon toward heaven.

Duncan stood over her, his stance aggressive though his gaze was surprisingly soft. “But you see, he and my mother had to be true to themselves. As much as Mother loved my father, she had too much goodness to be happy in the lower realm. And my father, well, he spent enough time in the third sphere to know what he gave up. But he wasn’t so easy with forgiveness. Nor did he agree with the upper realm’s take on humanity.”

Her mind whirring at the coincidences between Asael’s opinions and her own, she failed to realize Duncan’s intention before he touched her.

“Hey.”

“Now if you really want to sin, Sapphira, follow my lead.” Duncan kissed her like there was no tomorrow. He touched her with only his mouth, his tongue thrusting between her parted lips, his mouth molding to hers as if created solely to pleasure Sapphira. Cupping his hands around her cheeks, he brought her face closer.

Juggling

Balls are in the air, I just hope I don't drop one. I used to be someone who could only work on one project at a time. Now I seem to have several projects ongoing at the same time.

I have work to do for my agent. I have a series to do for one of my epublishers. I have stories I've started, one or two chapter's worth, but no time to finish so they sit in my pending folder.

Right now I have to go back to a work I put away months ago. I need to finish two more chapters, as well as a proposal. I'd rather have my teeth pulled than work on that proposal. Ack. As a pants-er writer, I let my characters take the story in the direction it needs to go. No matter how many times I've written synopses, my stories never flesh out the way I plan. Now I have to write a more detailed proposal for a story that will only be 5 chapters done...ack!

My new erotic series was going strong. Until the last scene I wrote that I have to scrap. It doesn't fit with the story at all. Bummer. I've been immersed in that world and need to pull out of it to go back to my older story. I'm glad I let the older story sit, because rereading it I've caught mistakes and plot holes. And I find I really like what I've written.

One other thing. Recently I've received a lot of emails about my Storm Lords series. I have written the last book and am waiting to see what my publisher thinks about it. I've done numerous rewrites. This book is the last of a five book series. It's also now with another publisher, so it needs to completely stand on its own. We'll see.

Sigh. Now back to keeping those balls in the air while I get to work.

Slowwww Posting

The picture to the immediate left is a three-toed sloth. Or it could be me, slowly coming around to posting again on this blog.

I don't know what it is. I've sat down several times this week to do it, but just couldn't manage anything worth writing about. Which is not to say I'm not extremely busy working.

I finished another chapter on my WIP, though I'm going to have to scrap my latest four pages because the scene just doesn't fit the story. Too bad, because it was a helluva love scene. Whew. But I'll rewrite it to better reflect the characters' motivations.

I also have to get cracking on a couple more chapters of my second book for my agent. My latest "Big Idea" project I'm hoping will excite some editing folks.

Then there's redoing my house, since the oldest boy is moving out and moving on to college. We've already replaced flooring in one room upstairs. Now we only have three more, the hallway, and room switch arounds to take care of. Ugh.

See why I didn't want to sit down and write this? It shows me again how much I have to do, and how little time I have to do it.

*Two more weeks until San Francisco.

Sick as a Dog

Ugh. I spent all day yesterday racked with chills, fever, and the disposal of fluids through various means. Not pretty...AT ALL.

So now I'm another day behind on my WIP. Oh, and while I was sick, my husband tried (bless him, he did watch the kids all day/night) but now the house is a mess. So the time I should spend writing will no doubt go into cleaning. Blah.

Be on the look-out for a bummer of a stomach bug. Stay healthy. Peace out.

Playing Catch-Up

Helloooo! I am way behind the eight ball. A vacation took me out of my comfortable writing loop and away from my computer. But I'm back!

I've been working on my manuscripts and am posting again. Had a great vacation in New Jersey. I announced the winner of the Second Quarter Contest. Saw fireworks on the 4th. I'm organizing the house, cleaning and moving my little ones into the college kid's room, and am gearing up toward San Fransisco and the RWA conference in a few weeks.

Movies I liked: Wanted (campy, but if you accept that going in, it's great), The Incredible Hulk
Movies that wasted my time: Vantage Point
Books that rock: Warrior by Angela Knight; Black Silk by Sharon Page

Current WIP: Circe's Recruits: Roane, After Life

That's it for now. Chow!