Thursday, October 30, 2008

Halloween Winner!


Congratulations to April, Lady Vampire, for winning the Halloween Contest.
April and a few others suggested gargoyles as heroes, and Frankenstein was surprisingly popular as a sexy monster hero. Thanks to all who participated, and check back for the 4th Quarter Contest coming soon.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Series and Stand Alones


I'm blogging today about series and stand-alones. Check it out at Loose Ends.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

What the Heck Commentary on Heroes

I take my inspiration to write from a lot of things. Daily life, books I've read, movies and TV I've watched, the occasional dream...

I fell in love with Heroes when it first came out two years ago. A great television epic about normal people who develop superhero abilities. What made Heroes so great was that it was steeped in normalcy. A high school cheerleader who can't die. A male nurse trying to balance his abilities with his job. A cop who suddenly starts hearing voices, helping him to catch criminals. Great storylines and intriguing characters.

Yet in season 3, they've gone beyond wacky. I know it's hard to keep up the momentum, and the writer's strike didn't help. Honestly, I didn't mind last season as much as the critics did. But I never did understand the Maya/Alejandra plotline. The introduction of new characters without wrapping up the stories of the older ones, well, it left the series jerky with gaping holes. And let's not talk about Hiro and his long-assed stint in feudal Japan. A few epidoses were interesting, but they completely overdid it.

Now you've got villains aplenty. A Petrelli is brought back to life. Sylar, the crazed killer who used to slice people's heads in two, is now a good guy. He's suddenly able to control his powers after what, blinking his eyes four times? Huh? There's a dude who creates black holes. Black holes. What happened to normal people developing odd abilities? This guy opens interdimensional portals? Then there's Suresh, once a decent scientist, now a power hungry mutant. The Suresh storyline completely lost me. He's spinning cocoons, like The Fly on acid.
And what's with Hiro suddenly acting like a complete smack? He's bored, so he needs to save the world again? He used to have depth, an idealistic soul needing to fix the world's problems. Now he's just annoying.Nathan, once an ambiguously dark politician finding God? And he listens to his dead archenemy?

What the fu--dge?

I was so disgusted I couldn't watch last night's episode. I'll probably check it out later in the week, but every time I consider the craziness of this once great show, I get agitated. As someone who writes fiction, I'm not slamming the series' writers. Rather I'm confused and taken aback that these people haven't asked the viewers what they want. Or if they have, they're not listening. They've proven they can craft a wonderful world in which the fantastic happens. I just don't understand how they've strayed so far from what they started out with--a great show.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Warning: Rotten Tomato alert

I was excited to see Max Payne. I ignored bad reviews, since most video games turned into movies are typically vilified by gamers. However, the naysayers were indeed correct in this instance, more's the pity.

Max Payne was a bad movie. C- at best. I will say that the visual effects were stunning. But the acting was so-so and the plot went nowhere, which was such a shame because the potential for a great movie was right there.

I'm not sure what the director was hoping to attain. The movie is dark. The effects are nice and creepy. But nothing explains why we see them so much, unless it's to tease idiots like me into spending money. They could have taken the special effects away and made the exact same movie. It's not a supernatural film, except for some odd happenings near the end. Nothing quite made sense.

I understood Max's need for revenge. His wife and child are dead. But it's so obvious through much of the movie who's at fault. And that it took him so long to put certain symbols together to point to the bad guy... Just not believable for a cop who's so intent on finding his family's killers.

If you're a Max Payne fan, rent the video. Otherwise, be glad you didn't waste two hours of your life, as well as money not well-spent.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Slackers-R-Us

This is how I'm feeling today. Not enough sleep, too many edits, who knows? But they say a picture is worth a thousand words... This is one of my favorite Demotivators.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Hitting the Hot Spot


I'm blogging today at Hitting the Hot Spot. Topic: Guardian's Redemption. Check it out.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

New Cover...and boy am I tired

Well, so much for getting any sleep tonight. But at least I finally finished edits for Guardian's Redemption.

And here's that cover I mentioned the other day. Man, I just love it! Check out Circe's Recruits: Roane, coming out Nov 18th from Loose Id. To read an excerpt, click here.

Monday, October 20, 2008

On the To Do List This Week

To Do This Week
  1. Working on edits for Guardian's Redemption.
  2. Working on edits for Creating Chemistry (Anin's story)
  3. Starting chapter two of Circe's Recruits:Derrick
  4. Guzzling lots of coffee
  5. Oct 22nd, Hitting the Hot Spot Blog
  6. Cleaning the house and putting up the rest of the Halloween decorations
Guess I'd better get cracking. Chow for now...

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Waiting Impatiently...

I received a new cover for Circe's Recruits: Roane, which comes out November 18th. The cover is TERRIFIC and I'm chomping at the bit to share it. But until Loose Id confirms they like it as much as I do, I have to wait.

I'm not a patient person. I have to make myself sit on my manuscripts before sending them out once I'm finished. And it's a good thing I do, because they normally need massive edits. Now I have to wait before posting Roane's cover. Crap.

But here's a peek at Guardian's Redemption, which I love, again. It's not Roane, but it's pretty all the same. Look for the book out Nov 10th. And another apology to the Storm Lords readers who got as tired as I did waiting for it to come out.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Nittany Lions All the Way


#3 Ranked Penn State walloped University of Michigan 46-17.

'Nuff Said.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Book Recommendation

I rarely have books in a TBR pile. I'm a bibliophile, like the Blogger name. I love books. When I get a new one, it's like a new toy I have to immediately play with, or in my case, read. Which makes it so unusual that I sat on the first three books in Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series.

A friend recommended Darkest Night to me, but wasn't fond of the following in the series. I'm happy to say, I'm loving them all. I flew through them and am hungry for more. Gena Showalter is one of my favorite authors. She does angst, humor and great storyline all in one shot. If you haven't yet read Darkest Night, Darkest Kiss or Darkest Pleasure, you're really missing out.

For more about the books, click here. And no, I get no residuals for my recommendations, just the joy in sharing a great book/s. *smile*

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Catching Up Again

I can't believe it's Wednesday already. Since my last post, our college age son has come and gone on his fall break, all my family members have toppled under a stomach virus, my husband locked truck keys IN the truck, and I spent a day cleaning the house--a major accomplishment.

Now I'm back writing, for a day, before the other kids have their fall break tomorrow and Friday. Why they need a fall break when they have Thanksgiving around the corner is beyond me. But I'll have kids underfoot for the next few days, regardless.

I edited my Circe's Recruits books and am finishing up Creating Chemistry, Anin's story, for TEB. Now it's time to down some coffee and get back to work.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Creation's Control: Bestseller


Creation's Control is a bestseller at Fictionwise. It's currently at #9. We'll see how long that'll last. To read a blurb, click here.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Goosebumps, not just for kids....

So somehow I got roped into watching Goosebumps with my kids. They are showing reruns of the old 1/2 hour shows on Cartoon Network in honor of Halloween. My children are young, so too much terror gives them nightmares. Goosebumps is just enough to creep them out without freaking them out. No violence, just the threat of monsters and witches and spiders.

At eight o'clock, I sat there with a kid on each leg. We were engrossed in the show. At eight thirty we all got up for a break. Part II came on, and I ended up being the only one still engrossed in the show. My boys were running around the house playing "hotwheels racing" and vrrooomiiinnng like banshees. And there I sat in front of the television watching Goosebumps. Embarrassing. I found the show not only entertaining, but kid-friendly as well. Now as soon as my 5 year old progresses past one syllable words, we're going to breeze through some RL Stine. Talk about an author with an audience.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Regarding Clive Barker

Anyone who knows horror knows the name Clive Barker. The renowned English author of such masterful fiction like Books of Blood, Weaveworld, The Great and Secret Show, and Imajica. Many of his short stories have become movies. Hellraiser (probably his most famous), Lord of Illusions, Nightbreed, Candyman and recently the Midnight Meat Train.

I just saw the Midnight Meat Train last night. I've been watching horror movies lately, getting into the Halloween spirit. (And heck, I was sick all weekend, so I had nothing better to do than lay about listlessly and stare at a blurry television.) I have to say, Midnight Meat Train was both a thrill and a disappointment. The movie had the requisite gore. I mean, at its basest the movie is about a guy on a train who butchers people. Most of the movie was decent. Good pacing, solid characters. Nice tension. But there were a few parts that didn't make sense. The dreams the photographer has of the train. Were they dreams or precognitive visions? The blood he bathes in, his? Real or not real? And that mark on his chest. What made it? The flash of what we were shown when the butcher caught him? Or something else?

It's never quite clear what those small details mean, and those details are what tie the story together. Still, it was a fun movie. If you have Comcast cable, you can see it for free on FearNET. But whatever the case, I'm going to reread Books of Blood. That volume contains some classic horror literature, and Clive Barker is truly one of the best.

Thanks, Clive, for the entertainment.

Monday, October 6, 2008

New Cover: Guardian's Redemption

Well, after spending my weekend sick as a dog, I'm back and ready to work. Beware a nasty 48 hour flu-like bug. Yech.

Good news is I have my new cover for Storm Lords: Guardian's Redemption. Check it out, and stay tuned for excerpts and contests in the weeks to come.

Friday, October 3, 2008

I need a Program

I would have posted earlier, but I'm still playing that &^%$@@!! Light Bot.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Halloween Contest

Happy Halloween

If you'd like to enter to win a box of Godiva chocolates, just answer the following statement and send it to marie_harte@yahoo.com with Happy Halloween in the subject line.
  • Name a sexy monster you'd like to see play the hero in a romance, and why.

Contest ends Oct 30th. Winner announced here and on my website. Good luck!