Weight on My Shoulders

That's me (figuratively), sitting with a pile of work to do that's a split second from crashing down all over me. The good news is that Total E-Bound is interested in my prior futuristic books no longer under contract. The Thief of Mardu was scheduled to come out in July, but TEB would like to put out Lurin's Surrender first, which was the first book I wrote set in my futuristic Vrail System. So, I'm working hard to re-edit that first book. (And boy, did it need it!! Added to that, I was already working on a werewolf story for their Over the Moon collection, and I'm also in the middle of another, larger project only a third of the way done. My kids are ending school for the year, and I've been running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to get teacher gifts, attend school events and cook dinner on time. (We did pizza last night. Tues night we ate close to eight at night!)

I also just realized I missed the deadline for my newsletter contest, and I'm way behind on several items I thought I'd have done before school ended. And that's to say nothing of the odd happenstance that occurred yesterday, one which totally threw me for a loop. I'll blog about that tomorrow.

Right now, I have to get back on edits for a very patient publisher. Chow!

June Bug Contest

To enter to win the bundle of books* pictured below, please send me an email (marie_harte@yahoo.com) with the subject line: JUNE BUG CONTEST. Make sure to include your physical address. Then answer the following questions and you're entered to win. Contest ends June 17th. Good luck!

* Do you like your summer reads to take place in the summer, why or why not? Do you prefer other reads to take place during the season you're reading them?

*The box of books is only a valid prize for those entrants who live in the continental United States. Any non U.S. wining resident entrant will win a bundle of electronic books, to make postage a heck of a lot easier.

Prizes must be claimed within 30 days. Email me for details.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!

STAR TREK Review

STAR TREK 2009

Rating: A+ because it's been such a long time since I lost track of time during a movie. This one gripped me from beginning to end. Holy cow. What a terrific show!!!!

Breakdown:
Acting: A
Plot: A
Special Effects: A
Direction: A
Casting: A

I just don't know what else to say except watch the movie. Whether you're a Star Trek fan or not, you won't have any trouble following the plot, the characters, or the grandeur of the space epic. Incredibly well done. And you know, I loved Dr. McCoy "Bones" on the original, but Karl Urban simply IS Bones in this installment. What a great movie!!!

Movie Month

I'm not normally a huge movie buff. I'd rather wait for DVD than spend almost ten bucks on a movie surrounded by idiots who could care less about making noise and answering a cell phone during movie time. And don't get me started on the *sswipes that bring small children to late night showings of horror films.

That said, I'm really surprised at my interest in the movies released this month. First, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I saw it the night before it actually released at a midnight showing. Tonight I'm hitting Star Trek with my husband. Angels and Demons, Terminator: Salvation, and Pixar's new Up! are all soon coming to the screen.

In June there's Land of the Lost and Transformers 2. In July Harry Potter returns, along with Ice Age 3 and Public Enemies, and in August GI Joe, which could be hit or miss, and District 9 (about alien refugees in Africa, directed by Peter Jackson of LOTR fame--and when I say alien, I mean from outer space).

Talk about a lot of movie watching... Which leads me to believe I'll probably see only one or two of them at the theater and check the rest out on DVD. Now if I could just bring myself to watch Rock n' Rolla, I might find I like it. Thank God for NetFlix.

Mighty Mjollnir

It's been raining here this week, and my children often have a difficult time with thunder... or at least, they used to before they learned who's really making all the noise.

Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, Thor's mighty goats. And then there's Mjollnir, Thor's might hammer, which also accounts for some of that booming noise.

Sure, I take artistic license in explaining things to my kids. But having seen Next Avengers, they're even more into Thor than they were when I just told them about the Norse Gods. Yeah, I'm brainwashing my kids early. Mythology is just about the coolest thing out there to spur fertile young minds into imagination.

Before cartoons, television, and even books, storytelling traveled via word of mouth. To explain the everyday as well as the unique, people created myths. Imagine a race of gods that looked human and had human foibles. That could explain away any number of things. And knowledge obliterates fear. Much better to believe the sun rose and fell chased by a giant wolf than to wonder where the sunlight went and if it would ever come back again.

Odin and Frigg, Thor and Loki, the Aesir and the Vanir. Who wouldn't think Valkyries are just the coolest chicks ever? Odin's Shieldwomen who flew over the battlefields and selected which heroic dead would feast in Valhalla, a Norseman's heaven? And to think that Bifrost-- a rainbow bridge--connects Asgard to Midgard, or heaven to Earth? Forget the pot of gold at the end. Let's go to heaven early and knock back some mead and roast pork with the gods!

Okay, I'm getting carried away. But my point is that Mjollnir, Thor's might hammer, made sense to my kids. Thunder isn't so scary now. And when it's cloudy or rainy, we look to the sky to see if we can see Thor's chariot, or at least the hoofs of his goats.

Is this interfering with their religious upbringing? I really don't think so. We don't pray to Thor, and my kids aren't in training to pillage and plunder. We won't start that until they reach third grade. :)

A Lackluster Tuesday

Ever have so much to do and get nothing done? sigh. I'm scattered today. Between housework I normally avoid and two stories I need to get done, I'm doing nothing but hemming and hawing. In other words, not much. I also still have two Netflix movies out, and my inclination is to avoid them so I can get some writing done after I watch Fringe.

Burn After Reading and Rock n' Rolla are on the menu for viewing....if I ever get to them. See? More stuff to do...

Enough about my lackluster Tuesday. I'll bore you no further. Here's hoping tomorrow's more productive...

Wolverine, the Review

Whew. It's been a rough couple of days. Friday I was miserable going on no sleep. The Wolverine movie Thurs night was great, but after I got home after 2 a.m. my kids were up with issues. Needless to say, I was a wash on Friday. Sat and Sunday were a bit better, but I managed to get a cold--or sinus problems, since I live in the devil's garden down here in Georgia. Pollen to the nth degree.



SOOOOO. The review I promised of X-Men Origins: Wolverine...

An enjoyable movie and a must-see if you're an X-Men or Wolverine fan. This is a movie about Wolverine. Though the trailers make the movie look like it's chock-full of mutant escapades, it's a movie about Wolverine with an ensemble cast. Gambit, DeadPool, and a few others make minimal appearances. I'm still not sure why Emma Frost was even needed, since she has one or two scenes in the whole movie, yet she's prevalent in the trailers. (?) Wolverine's main squeeze is cool, and the plot works really well. Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) and Liev Schreiber (Sabertooth) are incredible in their roles and make the movie work, despite a few slow spots that intefere with the pacing.

I love comics, but I'm not a die-hard fan, so I wasn't bothered by inconsistencies comic fans have mentioned. But I wish I knew why the movie maker introduced so many darned mutants when he only focused on three or four at most.

Still and all, an entertaining film. I'd give it a B+. Very violent, not much sexual content, and a terrific story.

I Must Be Nuts

I must be nuts, because I gave my daughter twenty bucks to go pick us up some midnight showing tickets for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. I've been really looking forward to this, and my daughter has too. She's still in school, and I told her she has to go tomorrow, regardless of being tired. The price to pay for Wolverine. So she's resting up now. Smart kid. I'll fill you in tomorrow on my review of the movie. But I'm already leaning toward a 4+/5, just for casting Hugh, Liev and including one of my fav characters from the comics, Gambit.

A Chapter a Day...

A chapter a day... I'm striving to finish a 90K book in one month. A HUGE goal, I know, but with school coming to a close, I really need to finish this draft so I can get into edits. So far so good. 2 chapters done (and a prologue) in two days. Wish me luck...

New Cover! In Plain Sight

I have been waiting on pins and needles to see this cover, and I LOVE it.

In Plain Sight comes out in June from Samhain. It's a shapeshifter novella. I really fell in love with the hero, and the heroine took me by surprise. She was a minor secondary character in Rachel's Totem. She wasn't supposed to have her own book! Anyway, here's a blurb of In Plain Sight...

In a choice between fight or flight, love makes the final decision.

Cullen Whitefeather is Ac-taw –a fierce golden eagle shapeshifter. The ultimate predator, he doesn’t shy away from confrontation…unless it involves one tempting, smart-mouthed woman. The woman destined to be his mate. The woman who doesn’t even know he’s alive.

Sarah Duncan made one mistake years ago and hasn’t stopped paying for it since. Tired of the town’s treatment, she finally tells the truth about what really happened and pays a hard price. Her clan wants to silence her. Permanently.

Rescue comes from a completely unexpected source—Cullen, a man who can barely seem to string two sentences together. Yet his fierce protectiveness, compassion, and bewitching touch are worth more than a thousand words.

With Sarah so close, Cullen is losing his mind—and his heart. She says she wants to leave, and the raptors want her gone. But if there’s one thing Cullen’s good at, it’s a fight. And he’s not letting her go without one.

Warning: this book contains explicit sex, a woman done wrong, birds of prey, sexy men who can’t talk to women, and red hot lovin’ that’ll make you wish you could fly.

To read an excerpt, click here.

Lowcountry Romance Writers

A Shout Out to the LRWA, which met yesterday. I had a lovely time. Met some new people, hello Rachel and Michelle, and learned some new things from our speaker, Renee Ryan, an inspirational and historical writer. She gave a great lecture on layering to improve your writing.

LRWA meets in Summerville, SC once a month. They're about 30 miles from Charleston. There were also people from Savannah, Columbia and Augusta (me) there. If you're an apsiring writer or published author, I recommend this group. No one's a diva, there's good info passed along, and a really friendly atmosphere.