Enjoyed a Short Stoey

I just enjoyed a short story by Carrie Vaughn, The Book of Daniel, in Kitty's Greatest Hits. 

A nice historical shapeshifter short story.
Maybe somebody else has written this idea, but I haven't seen it.

Gave me a little smile in the middle of a long night.

The collection is generally good. It's expensive on Amazon. $10. I can't imagine why.
I got it online from my library.

Go libraries!

Neil Gaiman Talks About Writing

 A casual, wandering, interesting interview with Gaiman that touches on his writing methods.

Find it here in a small review of American Gods, number 22 on a list of recommended Fantasy genre novels/

What I'm reading ...

 

Some good books I read in the last little while.
I got them as kindle books, borrowed from my library.

Hunter, Elite, Apex (Hunter Novels), Mercedes Lackey

The Mercy Thompson Collection Books 1-5, Patricia Briggs

Blackout, All Clear, To Say Nothing of the Dog (The Oxford books), Connie Willis

Blood Heir (Kate Daniels series), Ilona Andrews

The Will and the Deed, Ellis Peters

The Death of a Cad, M.C. Beaton

Wood Beyond the World, William Morris

The Scargill Cove Case Files: An Arcane Society Story, Jayne Ann Krentz

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

 

And here are a couple few more on the TBR shelf. I'm looking forward to reading or rereading them.

 

Always Coming Home, Ursula K. Le Guin

Tales from Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle Series Book 5) Ursula Le Guin

Skinwalker (Jane Yellowrock), Faith Hunter

Year One (Chronicles of The One), Nora Roberts

Jack of Shadows, Robert Zelazny

Coraline, Neil Gaiman 

Grimspace (Sirantha Jax), Ann Aguirre

Movies: The Irregulars and Gunpowder Milkshake

Both these movies have multi-racial casts and pass the Bechdel test.
For me, that's icing on the cake rather than a requirement.
But — iced cake.

 

I've been looking at Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal books for a while now. Lately I've expanded to movies and TV series.
Endless delights delivered to my computer screen.
We live with such splendid technology.

First, consider the tongue-in-cheek, cynical, and bloody romp that is The Irregulars.

It's "a British mystery adventure crime drama television series" created by Tom Bidwell for Netflix."*

Some paths in the Magical Wood  are well trampled. Beer bottles and McDonald wrappers litter the roadside.
I'll admit to being jaded about powerful lost heirs, schools for angsty teenage wizards**,  colorful squaddies on the battlefield of clashing magical empires, and other staples of the genre.

One could make the case that The Irregulars is wuxia
which is trope and utterly predictable,
but it's a story I like.
Finding such a story with good tropework is sweet. 

Irregulars is a nugget of gold in the spoils pile of the Sherlock fictive universe.

Gunpowder Milkshake also pleased me.
This one glows with subtle, intelligent acting from everybody on the set.

Now, there are long sequences of car chases and kung fu fighting and extras dying bloodily ***.
Presumably the intended audience likes car chases, martial arts, and gore.
Me, I fast forward through that stuff and it does not interfere with my enjoyment of the movie.****
Ain't technology grand?

A study of Jackie Chan's corpus of work might have kept the frenetic action scenes from being so boring.
I dunnoh.
Maybe it would have subverted the spirit of the story . . .
I have no wisdom in critiquing movies and my taste is not especially commercial.

Final thoughts on Milkshake is that it worked for me and I recommend it.  

 

*  I pulled the description from the wiki so it must be true.

** I wasn't much interested in teenagers even when I was one.

*** Some of the violence is disturbing. Most of it is like those old Westerns where cowboys have 37 bullets in their handguns and spin and fall dramatically when hit,

**** Some Romance readers flip past pages of the explicit and go on with the story. It's a skill.

 

Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormals: A List

These books are full of good storytelling, fine characterization, lyrical language, and intelligent world building.
Eminently readable.

Some are legit free online.
Most all are in the online section of major libraries.
Many are relatively cheap to buy.
 

Buying books supports authors.
So does checking them out of your library.

 

Ben Aaronovitch. Midnight Riot, Rivers of London.

Douglas Adams. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Hitchhikers Guide series.

Ilona Andrews.  Magic Bites. Kate Daniels series. 

Peter S. Beagle. The Folk of the Air.

Patricia Briggs. Moon Called. Mercy Thompson series.

Lois McMaster Bujold. The Curse of Chalion. World of Five Gods series. 

Emma Bull. War for the Oaks.

Jim Butcher. Storm Front. The Dresden Files. 

Gail Carriger. Soulless. Parasol Protectorate series.

Susan Cooper. The Dark is Rising. Dark is Rising Series.
MG/YA

David Eddings. Pawn of Prophesy. The Belgariad.

Jasper Fforde. The Eyre Affair. Thursday Next series.

Jeaniene Frost. Halfway to the Grave. Night Huntress series.

Neil Gaiman. Good Omens.

Lev Grossman. The Magicians.  Magicians trilogy.

Charlaine Harris. Midnight Crossroad. Midnight Texas.
This Charlaine Harris is not to be confused with the most excellent C. S. Harris who writes Sebastian St Cyr books.  

Robin Hobb. Assassin's Apprentice. Farseer trilogy.

N. K. Jemisin.  The Killing Moon. Dreamblood series.

Diana Wynne Jones. Deep Secret.  

Mercedes Lackey. Burning Water. Diana Tregarde Investigations series.
Also Born to Run. Serrated Edge series.

Ursula Le Guin. A Wizard of Earthsea. Earthsea series.
MG/YA/Adult.

Fritz Leiber. Our Lady of Darkness.
He's better known for his short stories. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

Madeleine L'Engle. A Wrinkle in Time. Wrinkle in Time Series.
MG/YA/Adult

C. S. Lewis. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Narnia series.
MG/YA/Adult.

R. A. MacAvoy. Tea with the Black Dragon. Black Dragon series.

Anne McCaffrey. Dragonflight. Dragonriders of Pern series.

Seanan McGuire. Rosemary and Rue. October Daye series.

Robin McKinley. Sunshine. 

Barbara Michaels. Ammie, Come Home.
She's also Elizabeth Peters.

Naomi Novik. His Majesty's Dragon. Temeraire series.  

Terry Pratchett. The Color of Magic.

Phillip Pullman. The Golden Compass. His Dark Materials series.

Spider Robinson. Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. Callahan's Place series.

Patrick Rothfuss. The Name of the Wind. Kingkiller chronicles.  

Brandon Sanderson. Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians. Evil Librarian series.
MG/ YA

Lisa Shearin. The Grendel Affair. SPI files.

Mary Stewart. The Crystal Cave. Arthurian saga.

J.R.R. Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring. Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Carrie Vaughn. Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Kitty Norville series.

Manly Wade Wellman. John the Balladeer. Silver John books.

Connie Willis. To Say Nothing of the Dog. Oxford Time Travel series.

Roger Zelazny. This Immortal.

Lovely cursing

 

Sometimes there's lovely cursing:

“Who the fuck are they?” I asked. 

“That’s the gentry and their servants,” said blond Bev. “All the liars, hypocrites, exploiters, dog-bastards, wankers, janissaries, Monday men, cat-ranchers and people who fly-tip in protected waterways.”

Ben Aaronovitch,  Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London)

That's how it's done

Another Contemporary Fantasy

I recently reread Peter S. Beagle's The Folk of the Air,  contemporary fantasy, one of my favorite books. It's also set in Berkeley, (always a plus.) This Beagle, sadly, is not available in kindle, which is enough to make one doubt the inherent benevolence of the universe. 

Quote: "He did recall being instantly certain that he had just met either an old friend or a very patient, important enemy."

Lovely. lyrical, unforgettable prose.

Adding Backstory

Since I took time off from all extraneous pursuits a month or so ago I've not only been getting my head together, I've found time to do some of that reading.
(That's part of getting my head back together.)
It's been TBR-bookshelf time.
A self-indulgent immersion in story.

I'm looking at how to fold in complicated backstory in First Person.  Ben Aaronovitch Rivers of London,  Jim Butcher's Storm Front, and Seanan McGuire's Rosemary and Rue  

Backstory be like (1) lay out the backstory on the bones of the plot, (2) take your time. 

I'm mentally highlighting my way through the books in three or four different colors and see how they're woven together.

Interesting that the three authors who immediately come to mind for introduction of backstory are all writing First Person.

Do we introduce backstory and infodumps more easily in First Person?
More to think about.

The Music Playing

Listening to Clifford Brown in this collection  because it is so mellow.

I put this in the background of re-reading. Aaronovitch's Moon Over Soho. 
Aaronovitch is so good with deep POV. He uses sophisticated elements to build it -- language, special knowledge,  scene reaction, philosophy. Just splendid stuff.

As to the music:

Trumpet – Clifford Brown
Bass – George Morrow
Drums – Max Roach
Piano – Richie Powell
Tenor Saxophone – Harold Land 

Delilah
Parisian Thoroughfare
Blues Walk
Daahoud 
Joy Spring
Jordu  

Brown only lived to be 25

Whatever gods there be

I'm thinking tonight about how characters deal with the acquisition and use of immense magical power.

How do you write this?

Ilona Andrews, Patricia Briggs, Nalini Singh, and Charlaine Harris handle this by giving other characters lesser but still important powers. The mucho powerful character is part of a continuum. There's shared experience and a knowledge base. There are systems in place.

Often their power arises from discipline, work, study, diligent effort. The character's attitude toward power is signalled by a history of deliberately building that power. They're not so much conflicted. The character gets a magic sword because they've
trained in swordfighting since childhood.

This is Iron Man's power arc or Batman's. Not Spiderman's. You may still get reconsideration of motive and responsibility in use of power, but it's late in the arc.

Often characters develop new abilities in immediate response to threat. The action separates acquisition of new power from a later intellectual exploration and emotional response to it. The emotional response may be explored in scenes of relative quiet with a trusted advisor.

But the internal response is explored. In an earlier posting I looked at a book where the two protagonists are destined to in some way become an abstract universal constant.
Like becoming Pi or E=MC².
This sounds uncomfortable and destructive to a sense of self,
but we don't see the emotional and intellectual internal fallout in the characters as they grow and change.

The author leaves the story before the characters get more than a taste of their universal constant-hood. The author is not looking at that aspect of the story. We don't take step into the apotheosis because is simply not the author's intent.

How is this handled? How well does this work?

I feel as if  the author deliberately moves the story slightly into mythos mode. Into traditional storytelling. Eastern European Folk tales and American Indian Folk tales show surreal illogic of character motivation. There's virtually no internals and self examination.

I'll have to reread Zelazny's Lord of Light and see how he handles this.

How else?

Well, there's a magical child growing up to be a more-than-human avatar in Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series. Two of them, in fact.

We got Bran who is the Pendragon, son of King Arthur. He's a minor character with magic. 
How does he feel about all this?
We don't see deeply into his POV so we're not sure.

This works okaybecause this is a tertiary character. And the author responsibly tidies his story neatly away in the end. In the series farewell scene, we see Bran renounce his potential for magical power. He will be a vanilla human to do human work in the world. 

In a couple hundred words Cooper shows us what's been going on in Bran's mind the whole time. It makes an emotionally satisfying wrap up and we didn't have to overbuild a minor character to look at this.

Will Stanton is the more interesting character problem.

Eleven-year-old Will learns he's one of the Old Ones — human incarnations of magic, born to save the world from a rising evil. In four books we see him sweat and suffer and fear his way to agency and power. His internal growth from boy to a powerful adult in a kid's body is convincing and, in many ways, tragic.

The author shows Will knowing and regretting the distance that opens between him and his family and friends. At what point does he cease to become a human boy? Some good internals there.

***

Romance genre studies human emotion. What do the protagonists feel? Authors flay it out on the dissecting table for all to see. They build the plot structure to reveal those feelings. They stud the page with internals and emotional conflict.

Mostly Romance explores the love relationship and at least one emotional conflict. It's interesting to look at magical power as the emotional conflict
Lots to think on.

 

       

Godlike Powers and the Young Protagonist

I read Middlegame by Seanan McGuire over these last few days and enjoyed it. An intricate book with good and interesting worldbuilding. Fantasy action adventure -- is that a thing? Mythos roadtrip?
Interesting, anyway. It's set partly in Berkeley.

Further thoughts:
The protagonists are enduring and brave. Appealing. I like them and want to read them.
Tunnelling down into the book in an analytic manner, though, the two protagonists feel lacking in agency. In part this is because they are children for some of the book.
But I find them oddly incurious about the magic they work.
Other people bestow magic upon them. Others give or withhold knowledge, lie to them, manipulate them emotionally, menace them, rescue them and tell them where to go and what to do. 

There is a flavor of  European folk tale about the storytelling. The simplified motivation and characterization that is the oral tradition.
When I'm in this traditional storytelling mode I accept those ancient and honorable story conventions, and do not ask myself if illiterate woodcutter's sons and naive goose girls make good and wise kings and queens at the end.

But in contemporary urban fantasy . . .  the real world setting and conventions make me ask myself how the young adult protagonists will deal with the mantle of absolute power that's been thrust upon them.

The kindle edition of Middlegame seems pricey to me, so you might suggest your library buy it. McGuire writes several series. Rosemary and Rue is the start of the October Daye books.

Checking out library books supports funding for the library and it encourages them to buy more of your favorite authors. If you drop favorable mentions and reviews on the internet that will also support your bestie authors.

Reading Order

Here's the publication order of the six books of the Spymaster Fictive Universe. It's a perfectly fine order to read them in, IMO. 

I mean, that's the order in which I learned about the characters.

 

So. Publication order is:
 

Spymaster’s Lady  

My Lord and Spymaster
Forbidden Rose
Black Hawk
Rogue Spy
Beauty Like the Night 

 

The chronological order of events is:

Forbidden Rose  (1794)
Spymaster’s Lady (1802)
Rogue Spy (1802)
My Lord and Spymaster (1811)
Black Hawk (It covers several time periods between 1794 and 1818)
Beauty Like the Night (1819)

 And that's also a good order to read them in. So you win either way.

And there are some minor works in the Spymaster's Fictive Universe:

Gideon and the Den of Thieves (novella) (1793)
Not currently available.

Intrigue and Mistletoe in the anthology Mischief and Mistletoe (1815 and a bit)

My True Love Hath My Heart in the anthology The Last Chance Christmas Christmas Ball.

Her Ladyship's Companion (30-year-old Regency) (1818)

Interview with Jeannie Lin

Interview with Jeannie Lin

Joanna here. 
I’m interviewing Jeannie Lin, writer of most excellent
Historical Romances set in Tang Dynasty China and Steampunk set in an alternate but formidably realistic historical China. She writes love, adventure, complicated family relationship, and high stakes in a world that sets all our assumptions wobbling. These are not your everyday Romances, folks.

This week Jeannie and I celebrate the release of our new novellas — hers and mine — in the e-anthology Gambled Away.

Joanna:  Howdy Jeannie. Glad to see you.

Jeannie: Hello! So glad to be back here with the Wenches. Can you believe Gambled Away is finally here?

Joanna:  I'm so happy to share an anthology with you. Oddly enough, I think both our stories are, at the core, about women escaping the constraints that narrow and bind their choices. 'Taking their lives into their own hands' as you put it.

My Aimée, in Gideon and the Den of Thieves, was sold into the service of Lazarus, the King Thief of Regency-era London. One does not just walk away from that service. One runs. We see Aimée trying to free herself from Lazarus.

Jeannie: I must admit after reading Lazarus, I had big baddie envy. I want to go back and rewrite the entire last half of my story. *smacks hand* Lazarus is so dark and twisted and complicated! Completely unpredictable.
 
My crime lords are much more straightforward — they're businessmen. They don't make emotional decisions, which makes them neither evil nor good. Unlike everyone else in the story, they have  nothing to hide and their goals are quite clear. It's all the other characters who sneak and lie and betray one another, often times believing they are doing the right thing. 

Joanna: I’ll just reassure you that there is no lack of menace in your crime lords. Pretty chilling customers.
While my Aimée faces the obvious practical problem associated with dwelling among the brutal and larcenous, Wei-wei’s life is more comfortable -- on the surface. But it is not, perhaps, more free.

Jeannie:  There's two sides of that coin for me. Chinese women in imperial times are known for being subservient — it's a stereotype often perpetuated in the West. But for me what's interesting is the ways that women have empowered themselves while keeping the illusion that they were not wresting power. When Chinese women were forbidden to write, they came up with their own written language, for instance.

In the case of Wei-wei, she's shown herself in past books to have quite a bit of agency behind the scenes. So much so that her brother at one point complains that she gets to do whatever she wants. The servants are at a loss at how to control her, and all the while her parents believe she's the model of an obedient daughter.

From personal experience *ahem*, I can tell you that game takes a bit of wrangling! And it's much more interesting to me than a feisty heroine who's completely willing to spit in the face of society or a meek and subservient mouse who is crushed under the weight of the patriarchy.

That's what I love about your heroines. They all come alive on the page with so many layers. And they don't fall back on using sex to navigate their worlds. Aimee is a wonderful heroine to add to the team -- she knows what

Tang Dynasty woman playing polo

she's worth and made herself valuable to those around her.

Joanna: Your Wei-wei is another complex, layered heroine who deals with men on many levels, not just the sexual. Though the building tension between Wei-wei and Gao is both tender and sensual.

One element that interested me particularly in Liar’s Dice was your heroine Wei-wei taking on the disguise of a man. At first, to experience life outside the confines of a ‘woman’s role’ in a traditional society. Later, to track down a killer. 







Follow the rest of this post over to the Word Wenches site

Me, Talking About Entering The RITA Contest

Elsewhere, somebody asked --
(I'm paraphrasing here):

"Why enter the RITA?  Readers don't care about the RITA.  It's nice to get approbation from your fellow romance-authors, but it's an expensive luxury. 

Does the RITA have any real impact on sales or on any aspect of a career?"

So I had some thoughts on this,
to wit:

Reader, not caring about the RITA

It is true that readers don't know or care about the RITA.  It's not like getting a HUGO or an Edgar, worse luck.  I don't know why the RITA gets so little respect.

Hey -- Look at some of the authors who've won the Historical Romance RITA in the last decade or so.  (Click on the name to see a book.)

Sarah MacLean, Sherry Thomas, Pam Rosenthal, Madeline Hunter, Julia Quinn, Liz Carlyle, Laura Kinsale, Connie Brockway, Jo Beverley, Laura Lee Guhrke, Pamela Morsi, Julie Garwood, LaVyrle Spencer, Mary Jo Putney ...

Can we say, "Really Good Writers, Folks"?
Can we say, "You should read these people"?

Why is the RITA not making a bigger noise?
I have no explanation. I am confounded and numbleswoggled.

Anyhow, talking about money.

There's a definite bump in sales with a RITA win -- but that bump would not cover the cost of entry for many people.  When I look at the economics of the RITA, I'm looking at the long tail. Any monetary value, IMO, lies in a secondary effect on the professionals in the field, rather than in immediate, direct sales.

This is how I see the long tail:

-- You're right about the RITAs being primarily for other writers. But this is not a bad thing.  Many Romance writers try out the RITA Finalists in the year after the win and sometimes they like what they read. The single best advertising for any writer is the recommendation of other writers.

Somewhat jaded reviewer

-- RWA Chapters and writing organizations notice the winners. If you like speaking engagements, this is a way to get wonderful invitations.

-- Reviewers often pick up the next books from RITA writers. Reviewers love good writing -- that's why they're in the business -- and take an interest in what Romance writers think is good writing.

-- And I think the publishers take note.
Publishers are endlessly interested in writers. We are 'the product' they're selling, as it were. I like to think that in some future marketing meeting, that RITA win or Final might be the little nudge that pushes a book into a more favorable printing slot or gives it a bit of the publicity budget.

So. Onward to expenses.  Does the RITA cost a writer too much?

This so much depends. Take an example of one sort of writer.
Let's say you're not an RWA member and would not normally become one; you wouldn't go to National; you have to pay for your own print books; you have to pay for your own entry to the RITA contest; and you make less than $2000 writing income after expenses.

In this case, to get the RITA at the National Convention, you'd be paying, soup to nuts:

$120 RWA membership
$100 to print up ten copies of your book
$50 to enter the RITA contest
$500 registration for National Conference
$400 plane fare to National Conference
$50 for a checked bag
$500 hotel at National Conference
$130 meals at National Conference
$100 dress to wear to the Awards dinner
$100 for professional clothing to wear at the conference

This is all ballpark, but we're flirting with $2000 overall. And you'd have to judge five books.

Another writer would be in a different situation.
For instance, until I fell into my recent snit with RWA over their latest revamping of the RITA, I paid for RWA membership every year. I judged the RITAs whether I entered or not. I attended the National Conference whenever I could scrape together money enough to do so.

The National Convention of RWA

Because I was already paying for so much, entering for the RITA cost me about nothing extra. Entering the RITA, then, is probably a good economic decision for any RWA member who plans to go to National. It's maybe not such a good economic decision for folks who aren't and don't.


But the economics are not the be-all and end-all of this contest.  For me, entering the RITA has never been about the economics. It's part of being in RWA and supporting Romance.  For many longterm RWA members, the RITA is 'our contest'. It seems natural to enter.

Finally, let me suggest one particular case when the payoff is worth the cost.

If you are Indie pubbed and you have just a hellaciously good book and you cannot seem to get anybody to notice it ... the RITA might be a good way to put your book in front of the world.

Hellaciously good Indie book

Is your book good enough to Final? Looking at it objectively, is your book better than most of those Finalists?   Do you have a supergreatwonderful book?
If so, and if you choose not to go to National with your Final, the RITA would cost:

$120 RWA membership
$100 to print up ten copies of your book
$50 to enter the RITA contest

That $270 seems cheap for that amount of publicity. 
There'd be special notice taken when an Indie book hit a Finalist position.

At Virginia Festival of the Book

This Saturday I'm signing at the Virginia Festival of the Book.
I would love to see folks there.

Also -- get a look at this lineup:

Tasha Alexander,
Grace Burrowes,
Mary Burton,
Kristen Callihan,
Liz Everly,
Jeaniene Frost,
Kim Harrison,
Madeline Iva,
Joshilyn Jackson,
Joyce Lamb,
Lydia Netzer,
Pamela Palmer,
Vicki Pettersson,          
Mary Jo Putney,
Deanna Raybourn,
Rosemary Stevens,
Jehanne Wake,      
Lauren Willig

Come hear them speak.  Meet them.  Buy their latest books.  Get some books signed.

Me, talking about books and the writing life

I'm HERE, at WMRA radio, talking about writing books and my life and my philosophy of storytelling and probably a few other things thrown in.

At the top of this interview I give an extemporaneous reading of an excerpt from The Black Hawk just to let everybody know why I do not generally attempt to give public readings that involve characters with British and French accents.  

ALA RUSA Shortlist

May I take a moment to toot my own horn say how proud and happy I am to have made the shortlist for the American Library Association, Reference and User Services Association Reading List.

"The Reading List annually recognizes the best books in eight genres: adrenaline (including suspense, thriller and adventure), fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance, science fiction and women’s fiction. This year’s list includes novels that will please die-hard fans, as well as introduce new readers to the pleasures of genre fiction. Librarians can use the lists as resources for reader recommendations and collection development at their own libraries, or to build their personal to-be-read lists."

The Romance winner is:

“Firelight” by Kristen Callihan (Grand Central)

Bartered as a bride to the masked nobleman Benjamin Archer, Miranda Ellis – a woman with a supernatural secret – becomes his only defender when he is accused of a series of murders. This is a dark and smoldering Victorian paranormal where love redeems two complex and damaged characters.

Short List:

“The Black Hawk” by Joanna Bourne (Berkley) (Me! Memememe)
“At Your Pleasure” by Meredith Duran (Pocket Star)
“Lucky in Love” by Jill Shalvis (Forever)
“A Lady Awakened” by Cecilia Grant (Bantam)

I am in great company.  Just great.

Booty Tuesday -- Yasmine Galenorn's Shaded Vision

Carrying home booty

This week is your chance to win a SIGNED copy of Yasmine Galenorn's Shaded Vision.

This is the second book by Galenorn I've given away, so I must have absentmindedly plucked up two at her table while she was looking the other way.  

Shaded Vision is one of her Otherworld novels which are just chock full of paranormal characters.  This one is about Delilah, one of three (somewhat) weird sisters.  She's the werecat of the trio.

I'm very fond of cats.
Anyhow, the usual suspects are out in all their otherworldly menace and all hell is breaking loose, as it is wont to do in Galenorn's novels.


From the book:

"When did Toby start working for you?" I was determined to needle him just a little about it.  After all, that was what friends did.  And Carter was our friend.

He glanced up at me, and a little smirk crossed his face.  "About two months ago.  He was working for a client of mine.  We . . . the attraction was immediate.  So he came to work for me.  The attraction won't last.  He's one of the djinn, and they don't make good long-term lovers.  But it will be fun for the duration.  And I needed the company.  And the help."

Can you trust a djinn?"  Camille frowned.   I knew that look.  It meant that she didn't trust Toby any more than she trusted a skunk in heat.

"No, but that is why he is not allowed access to private information, and why he doesn't have a key to my place.  Do not trouble yourself, young witch.  I will not compromise the integrity of my operations with a veil of sex haze.  But it has been a long time since I've found someone to my liking, and I plan to enjoy myself in the meantime.  And before you ask, I don't ask what equipment my lovers have, merely if they want to play."

Fun for the duration.  Djinn are like that, apparently.  Who knew?

To be eligible to win Shaded Vision, write and post a poem in the comment thread of this post. 

Use one of the following words from the cover:

Yasmine courting, darkness,  shaded, vision, other, world, deliciously, dark, spectacular, hot, erotic, bewitch, mix, magic, passion, frost, sister, sexy, savvy, intelligence, agency, half, human, power, Fae, any time wrong, usually,wicked, witch, husband, vampire, werecat, death, maiden.

Your poem can be a 
Limerick
Haiku    (traditional or non-traditional)
Rhymed couplet
Quatrain  
blank verse
or any other rhyme or poetry form you fancy.  I am not particular.

I'll pick one lucky commenter (US only, sorry) from the comment trail on Friday.

Booty Tuesday -- Lauren Willig's The Orchid Affair

Carrying home booty

This week is your chance to win a SIGNED copy of The Orchid Affair by Lauren Willig. (Signed with her own authorial hand.)

Laura Grey's first assignment as a British spy is to gather information on Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Napoleon's Chief of Police.

Did I ever mention how fond I am of Regency spies?   International intrigue and Regency clothes.  Paris. Hot Frenchmen.  Oh my. 

From the book:

"Now, Andre, watch how it's done."

Something in the way he said it made Laura suspect that he was talking about more than the rules of flirtation, but when she looked at Daubier, his rumpled face was guileless as a child's.

"I am all ears," said Jaouen.

Daubier made a tsk noise before turning his attention back to Laura.  With an elaborate flourish, he lowered his considerable bulk over Laura's hand.  She could hear his corset strings creak with the effort.

"My dearest lady," he huffed, from somewhere in the vicinity of Laura's knuckles.  "I am rendered speechless by your . . . "

"Tidiness?" suggested Laura, as he paused for a noun.

To be eligible to win The Orchid Affair, write and post a poem in the comment thread of this post. 

Use one of the following words from the cover:

Lauren, orchid, affair, sparkling, continue, elevate, romance, pink, carnation, sheer, fun, sure, please, draw, reader, perilous, tale, intrigue, secret, deception, identity, hide, heart, pride, prejudice, live, history, plenty, full, veteran, governess, Laura, Grey, joins, school, spy, Andre.

Your poem can be a 
Limerick
Haiku    (traditional or non-traditional)
Rhymed couplet
Quatrain  
blank verse
or any other rhyme or poetry form you fancy.  I am not particular.

I'll pick one lucky commenter (US only, sorry) from the comment trail on Friday.

Booty Tuesday -- Kristan Higgins' My One and Only

Carrying home booty

As you know, I returned from the RWA National Conference last August with Booty!
But this is not a book from RWA National.

This is a book from COFW, 

which is the Central Ohio Fiction Writers where I was over last weekend giving a loooong talk to everybody about POV and a shorter but still, to some, interminable, talk about plotting.

 (I am going to recommend the COFW conference to everyone.  It was great fun and right sized and the workshops looked scrumptious.) 

Anyhow.  This is the second of two books I snagged at COFW.
Did I mention it is signed?

This week you may win Kristan Higgins' My One and Only.

This is Romantic Comedy from New York Times best sellers.  If you haven't tried Kristan Higgins, this is your chance.

From the book:

"I just have to.  It's not a big deal."  I faked a smile and tried to tie the shoulder strap of my dress, but my hands were shaking.  Still couldn't look at him.  It felt as if something big and dark, something that wanted to do me harm, and damned if I wasn't close to tears.

"Harper."

"Nick."

"Look at me."

What could I say?  No?  I obeyed, glancing at him briefly.

"Harper, I love you."  His gypsy eyes were solemn, completely sincere, and that thing in my chest gave a fast, hard, painful twist.

 I love a road trip book. 

"this funny, poignant romance"  Publisher's Weekly

To be eligible to win My One and Only, write and post a poem in the comment thread of this post. 

Use one of the following words from the cover:

One, only, love, marriage, take, novel, Kristan, story, just, thought, life, figured, divorce, attorney, harper, break, catch, bad, enough, wedding, cruel, twist, fate, cross, country, road, trip, sympathetic,back, home, blazing, help.

Your poem can be a 
Limerick
Haiku 
(traditional or non-traditional)
Rhymed couplet
Quatrain  
blank verse
or any other rhyme or poetry form you fancy.  I am not particular.

I'll pick one lucky commenter (US only, sorry) from the comment trail on Friday.