AM Riley's Blog

What politician's know about the voting public.

2012-02-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

I watch the news while working out. I usually have music on my digital device feeding motivational sound into both ears, so I watch superimposed online text of the dialogue between the newscasters and their interviewees.

Like a certain politician who shall not be named but whose initials are RS.

I can clearly see the semi-sentences... words just dropped there without noun or verb. Emotionally charged words that have no logical connection to the rest of his sentences. Like 'government forcing us to do what we find morally reprehensible' 'first amendment' 'religious rights'. He is not actually talking about something that abridges these rights or forces anyone to do anything, but he is implying it in a mass of gibberish that is merely impressive sound around those key emotional phrases. When you see it all typed out it is very clear. It's how Miss America contestants are trained to answer those questions about 'world peace'.

But this guy is running for President of the United States! He obviously only wants one thing. To beat the man in office and get his own rich friends back in power. Clearly, that is his only platform. The gibberish he is speaking is not a platform. It has as much substance as jello. So, how the hell do people fall for that crap? You know?

So I looked up 'average intelligence in America' on the internet. Oh, yes I did go there. And I found the following interesting info:

The average IQ is, by definition, 100. To get an idea what this means, someone with an IQ of 80 or below is considered to be marginally able to cope with the adult world. People with IQ's of 80 or below typically work as unskilled laborers such as lawn maintenance and trash pickup. They generally need help from friends or family to manage life's complications. About 10% of the population has an IQ of 80 or below.
People with IQ's of 80-90 are a little on the slow side but may be found in fast-food restaurants, day-care centers, etc. They may also be found in unskilled jobs. About 16% of the population has IQ's in this range.
People with IQ's of 90-110 generally occupy semi-skilled positions, including typists, receptionists, assembly line workers, and checkout clerks. They are able to keep up with the world, and comprise about 46% of the public.
People with IQ's in the 110 to 120 range fill the skilled trades and include some tool and die makers, teachers, and Ph. D.'s among their ranks. They also make up 16% of the population.
People with IQ's of 120 and above tend to staff the professions as doctors, dentists, lawyers, teachers, and college professors. They fall in the upper 10% of the population.

Note that, if you do the math, there are more than fifty percent of our adult population with IQ's 'able to keep up with the world' at best. If you talk really fast and use a lot of big words you can fool those people.

This is what politicians know. This is what the 1% know. They know how to make the sheep go baaa and walk into the pens.

I'm worried.

If you want to read more about intelligence and all of the statistics about the statistics, go here: http://hiqnews.megafoundation.org/Definition_of_IQ%27.html

Time is on our side, but still it's nice

2012-02-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you've heard, the courts overturned Prop 8 here in California today:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/court-overturns-prop-8-california-says-state-t-181451250.html

A cheer travelled down the hallways of the studio as the info came through on tweets, facebook and good ol' fashioned email. The thing is, most people with more than half a brain and/or half a heart already think you should be able to love who you love and take care of them under the law with your social security or health insurance. We all know future generations will look back and shake their heads in disbelief that ANYONE in our era thought gay and bisexual relationships should be stigmatized.

My theory is that it's all about DNA. Some people fear the coming tide because they feel in their gut that their genetic material will be selected out as inferior or just plain evil. Call me elitist. I don't care.

This will be challenged and challenged and then, one day, everyone will just wonder why anyone even questions the rights of individuals who only want to love each other.

my digital life

2012-01-30T16:52:00.000-08:00

At 5:30 am I am on an elyptical machine at 'Golds'. My nano is blasting a selection of workout focused music into my head while the T.V. on the elyptical shows the weather and news of the day, with a typed transcript on the bottom of the screen. So I'm listening to Beyonce while watching Newt and Romney argue. It's pitch black out side. The person on the treadmill in front of me has the finest ass I've seen in ages and there's a video screen on the wall beyond that plays a selection of music vids interspersed with diet and exercise advice.

And still I daydream. I see the second to last chapter of the book I'm working on played out in technicolor. I imagine the alternate reality in which I can sing and see myself mixing on the stage behind Beyonce. I visualize fat disappearing from my body like steam rising. And the guy next to me, who is into Wicca, tells me about manifesting magic.

The brain is amazing, infinitely powerful and the best toy ever.

The day the LOLcats died. An anti SOPA video

2012-01-18T17:56:00.000-08:00

About SOPA my letter to Dianne Feinstein

2012-01-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

My letter to my state senator:

Dear Ms. Feinstein,

I am an author whose books are frequently pirated online. Even though this possibly affects my income, I DO NOT SUPPORT the SOPA act.

I should mention that I do not rely on the sale of my books as my primary income. I may not be injured to the extent that an author, artist or musician may who relies on the sale of his/her digital product to put food on the table and pay rent. But may I just suggest that the people who pirate might not buy the products they steal if they were unable to acquire them illegally? Yes, its wrong, but does it really represent income lost? Perhaps they would simply do without the book/music/movie. I wonder.

In the interest of continued uncensored access to the rest of the world, though, I would willingly sacrifice whatever income I am losing. In truth, I probably already contribute more money to political organizations than I lose to pirates. But I'd be willing to contribute more to keep the internet free.

If you want to know more about the act, see this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/18/sopa-5-things-you-should-_n_1213797.html

And if you are an American citizen, please call your senator. They will be voting on this soon.

Why the Broncos lost so badly... one woman's opinion.

2012-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, I'd drunk the Tebow Koolaid. I was rooting for the underdogs. Until that awful 'focus on the family' ad that appeared part way through the first half of the playoff game between the Broncos and the Patriots.

Oh, come on, you can't tell me they didn't put that there because Tebow has demonstrated his faith repeatedly on the field. Not that I have issues with his faith. Good for him. Weird that he has to keep doing it. I mean, does he not think God knows how he feels? Hmm. Seems like a mini commercial there to me. But whatever. Good for him.

But that ad really burned me.

And then I was screaming 'kill them'. For the next three quarters. And the Lord Almighty did.

I think God looked down and said, 'I do NOT support those people'. And he smote the Broncos bad.

Of course the Patriots rocked but I think that ad had something to do with it. Denver was holding their own until that ad.

Football lovers '1' Haters '0'

Ha.

Should I try to self-publish Kindle books on Amazon?

2012-01-12T14:41:00.000-08:00

It looks so easy.

It has always seemed irresistibly magical to me, when something that was once difficult suddenly becomes easy. I can't keep my hands off it. For instance: Thai food. There was a time when I had to drive all the way into the city for Thai food. I lived in the boonies of Chicago suburbs and the most exotic food one could find locally was Taco Bell. So when I moved to Los Angeles and Thai food was abundant and available for delivery I could not stop ordering it. Until I od'd on msg one Saturday night and was cured of the craving.

I've got a Kindle. Because I can not get over the wonder of having a book delivered to me instantly. Instantly. God, how awesome is that? I have heard and understand all of the issues with Kindle and Amazon. Sure sure sure, but its so cool, isn't it? So easy.

Now, I've got a small stack of stories of varying lengths featuring Elves, Fairies, Banshees, Ogres, Leprachauns and a few odd Bogeymen lying about on my laptop. I'm working on them with an eye toward various epub houses. But then I thought, hey! I could self-pub them. Wouldn't that be cool? To pub my own books and have them available to people via instant electronic delivery? Pretty neat. I could sell them for just a dollar, design my own book covers, and just have fun with it. No worries about sales or house standards. To smex or not to smex. Just stories about the Fae.

But I'm looking at the Kindle instructions on Amazon and they have a CONTENT stipulation. As in, no so-called pornography. And I'm guessing that smex between consulting Fairies is perceived as porn by some. So, what does that mean? Is this some ugly area that I should just avoid?

Or would it be the super coolest thing evah?

How to Manage Your Money Plant

2012-01-09T06:11:00.000-08:00

A co-worker came up with the title when he saw me watering my 'lucky' money plant in the sink. "Sounds like the title to a blog," I said. And so, since I'm desperately trying to think of up ideas with which to fill this blog, I stole it. Because that's how I roll.

Here's the thing about the money plant. Feng Shui dictates that one take great care of the damned thing or ill fortune might befall ones actual finances. Or at least that's the way I interpret the Feng Shui strictures about plants and lucky 'cures'. And because I superstitiously fear a direct relationship between the darned plant and my bank account, I tend it religiously.

It occurs to me that I put a lot less energy into my relationships with real live people. I don't check to see that my friendships are not drying up, or needing more sun. I don't worry about feeding or trimming my communications with my relatives, who live far away. In other words, I'm more worried about my so-called luck than I am about my real life.

Now when I look at the plant I feel guilty. How is that supposed to help anything?

But I can't get rid of it. Geez, I can't even imagine what would happen to me if I threw it away. Or gave it away. Or let it die. Lets face it, the plant owns me.

Getting out there

2012-01-07T07:47:00.000-08:00

I've made a small resolution to post more frequently. We'll see how I do.

The problem is, I don't seem to have much to report most days. This is my life: I get up before dawn, take my (3) dogs for a mile or so hike in the dark. Drive to the Gold's gym. Sweat for an hour and a half, trying not to stare at the hard bodies around me. Drive home. Shower and dress and go to work.

Work. I wish I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you.

I'm home by 8pm. Walk the dogs again. Make dinner. Frequently fall asleep before finishing dinner. And get a few hours sleep before the alarm goes off and I do it all again.

Somewhere in there I write. I carry the books around on my lap top so location doesn't much matter to me. I have headphones and I block out the world and type away. This is one reason that I publish unevenly and sporadically. Somewhere in there, also, I watch movies. I have to. Its like a homework assignment. I have to see them at the theater, too. At least, quite a few of them.

What a pain, right?

I have other hobbies! I knit. With me, its less a craft and more a furious venting of anxiety and fussiness into a ball of yarn via bamboo knitting needles.

And I have a child and friends. All of whom despair of ever seeing me again.

I wish I didn't have to sleep.

What Genre do you like me to write?

2012-01-05T14:18:00.000-08:00

I've written vampire, banshees and vice cops. There's an odd little angel story out there, also. I've written characters and romances for lesbian, gay and het. I don't think of myself as having a 'genre' but I wonder if readers expect a certain sort of book from me?

I ask because I'm currently laboring in my so-called spare time on a contemporary fairy fic. The concern is that readers would be wary of reading elves and the like if I penned it.

What do you think?

A Man, a Jersey and a Tight End available today at Loose id!

2011-11-29T12:30:00.000-08:00

A Man, a Jersey and a Tight End, the sequel to Goldilocks and His Three Bears is available today at Loose id. It is a re-release with new editing and a few tweaks by yours truly.

Here's the blurb:

Since Brian and his three bears first set up house, the demands of Paul’s long distance job have put a strain on all of their relationships. Jim feels that everything is dumped on him; Scott is still unsure about being a sub; Brian's brattier than ever; and when Scott brings home a ‘stray’ in the form of a young brat named Joshua, the household is set on its ear. Of course, the brats handle the situation in their own fashion and Jim and Paul have their hands full.

They've got their plays scrambled and it's going to take a lot of hard work to find the proper balance between discipline and love.

Find it here.

Of Gratitude and the Gridiron

2011-11-24T08:41:00.000-08:00

Happy Football Day! Oh, and have a nice Thanksgiving if you live in the U.S.

Tuesday, November 29th, Loose id will re-release my m/m/m/m domestic discipline "A Man, a Jersey and a Tight End", the sequel to "Goldilocks and His Three Bears". It begins during a football game (American football, not European).

I rose early this morning to turn on the oven and run the vacuum one more time before the first guests arrive. And, of course, I switched on the television to watch those excited clean shaven men with their blue suits and crazy ties talk about the football games coming up today.

So, I've got a little football on the brain right now.

My father was a college quarterback and he loved the sport. At least I think he loved it. The way he screamed at the players and coaches while he watched made me wonder. By the time I was five I could throw a decent spiral about thirty feet into his arms. I think he saw me as the first great professional female football player, but when the boys grew big enough to kill me just by landing on my prone body, I abdicated.

Sports are awesome. I know a lot of men and women who were traumatized, via their father's and schoolmates, by sports, but they are still the best way for men and women to vent their aggression and competitive ambitions without killing innocent people. Mostly.

But they are brutal. And for the young. And yesterdays victories are only memories and not as important as today's. Wait, am I talking about sports or the film industry? Or Wall Street? Or life as we know it these days in general?

Which brings me to gratitude and giving thanks. I'm thankful for the past, for what I've been given and what I've been spared. When I think of it. I spend a lot of time struggling to get over the next mountain, as I'm sure do you all, so I don't spend much time dwelling on the past. Today, while checking my fantasy teams stats, and counting forks on the table, and gossiping about work with my sister, I'm going to stop for just a second and feel grateful for my health and my loved ones.

And my editor, Judi, who slogged through another one of my books just in time for its release. :)

I hope you all have a great day, whether you celebrate or not.

Who are you?

2011-11-09T13:55:00.000-08:00

I love that 'The Who' song "Who are you?" where Townsend sings about waking up drunk and wasted sleeping in a doorway on the street. The policeman doesn't arrest him but sends him home because he recognizes him. But of course the bigger question that all of us adolescents loved to hear in the song was about identity. I mean, who the 'f' are YOU?

I use a psuedonym. I'm not trying to hide anything. I'd rather that the people who watch the (mostly PG) movies on work on not have the information that I also write adult erotica. Mostly because the studio would rather its public not know that. At least, not have it as readily knowable as a google search might make it.

Other than that, though. I'm an open book. Female, middle aged. Bisexual, which, no does not mean I kissed a girl in college. It means I'm gay dominant and my parents booted me out and cut me off because of it.

I grew up in affluence and moved into poverty and fear territory in my early adulthood. But I was lucky in my childhood and it benefited me enormously. I speak like a well brought up young lady. I know how to behave, dress and address authority figures. I went to really excellent grammar and high schools. This made it much easier for me to get a scholarship and survive once I found myself on my own.

I'm a radical feminist. I think if you are female and don't know you're oppressed, then you are living in willful ignorance. I think any man who thinks he gets it, is wrong. Maybe your father was disappointed in you because you weren't a jock, or a business man, or straight. My father was disappointed in me THE MINUTE I WAS BORN because I didn't have a penis.

I'd be surprised if all of this doesn't somehow trickle into my books. However, I write fiction and if I can't sketch a believable character who is NOT ME, then I'm a crap writer and should give up. I might have some amazing insights into being a man if I WERE a man but, hell, Hardy wrote the most amazing women EVER and he didn't have a vagina. (Yes, I just compared myself to Hardy. Probably the last time that will every happen.)

In other words, I don't care who you sleep with, share your spit with or vote for. If I like the book, I like the book. If I hate the book, I don't care how gay/straight male/female you are. Anyone who buys a book because they like the author is wasting their money.

I do wonder at authors who feel that their readers are too stupid to make this value judgment on their own, and so perpetrate huge hoaxes, but whatever. Who cares?

Who are you?

still sick

2011-10-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

I thought I was getting over it, but last night was all fever and dreams about wolves and dragons. Today, I'm too weak to walk downstairs.

I'm working on Elf stories this week. I have three and in each, the nature of the elves is slightly different. I wonder what you all think of Elves. Are they good? Evil? Neither? Are they the souls of the dead who pay tithe to the devil or just the 'little people' from the 'old race' forced underground by modern technology?

With a fever and the weird tilt it puts on everything, I think elves are a little naughty and little bored and love the taste of burnt sugar. What do you think?

Why does Google want my phone number?

2011-10-20T05:43:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm sick. I get these bugs that don't really cause any symptoms but a low grade fever, around 102. Funny thoughts happen inside my heated brain. I start to see things clearly. The fever seems to clear out a lot of the underbrush, like a fire in the Los Angeles mountains.

Or.

Or maybe I'm hallucinating and paranoid.

I can't stay home sick more than the one day I took so I'm dealing with the entire studio thing while walking around with my brain on fire. And, of course, a coworker chose this week to come unglued and have a psychotic break right in my face.

Another coworker, a kind and sensitive soul, stops by my office. Takes a look at my face. Comes in and says, "are you okay?"

NO. I'm not okay.

When I log into Google, I get a page that requests my mobile number. Seriously? I Maneuvered around that and remembered that my daughter told me the last time she typed my REAL name into the White Pages she got all of our personal info. Including our REAL physical address. I see people are yelling and screaming at each other online again, hitting each other's facebook pages and accusations are flying around and I'm starting to think that the entire planet has a brain fever.

I don't feel safe anywhere anymore.

I'm going to go drink some Orange juice and listen to meditation tapes and try not to imagine my coworker showing up with a weapon one day...

Roman has a brain tumor

2011-09-07T15:42:00.000-07:00

I don't follow the AWZ episodes religiously. I tune in about once a month or so, for a little eye candy and to beef up my German.

Roman has a brain tumor? A FATAL brain tumor? I can't stand it. I really really can't. (if you don't know what or who I am talking about don't worry. That just means you are a little more sane than I am.)

Nooooooo! Deniz' heartbreak is breaking my heart. Damn this show!

Somebody tell me it's going to be okay. There will be a miracle.

Right?

Goldilocks and His Three Bears released

2011-07-05T06:43:00.001-07:00

Goldilocks and His Three Bears is available again! Loose id has re-released my m/m Domestic Discipline menage a quatre, with new editing and a bit of re-writing here and there, plus yummy new cover!

Check it out!

Searching for the story

2011-05-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

So, I've got a junk drawer. I suppose everyone has one of those, but I'm a little overly organized (not OCD! Really!) And so the junk drawer is a source of great shame. But there are things that even I have no place for. Bags of safety pins. Partially used boxes of birthday candles. Batteries I'm not sure are old or new. And odd little objects that find their way there, I swear, all on their own. Like the headless Statue of Liberty magnet. Why is that there? I would have thrown it out. The three separate one year pins from Disney. A drawing compass. Yeah, no idea how that got in there and I only found it because when I was rooting around in the drawer for a chip bag clip, it stabbed me.

Stuff. Homeless interesting stuff.

Currently, I'm writing a murder mystery that is at the junk drawer stage. I just got stabbed in the virtual finger by a character. Every time I start a new book I SWEAR I'm going to do the outlines and the chapter plans and all that. And every time I end up in the junk drawer stage. What is this thing? How did it get there? Why can't I throw it away? Argh and fie...

So. That's my weekend. How's yours going?

Dogs At Work

2011-05-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Mr. Adorables looks so cute curled up on the sofa some mornings, I just can't stand to leave him there. And, well, this morning he and Benton were being kind of snippy with each other. Plus there was the cocker spaniel incident while we were out walking that got everyone in a tizzy.

So I brought Stanley to the studio. I know, I know, what a moron. As if there aren't enough out of control things happening here. And then... he got out.

I opened my door for just a minute and Stanley leapt down off the chair where he had been snoozing (pretending to sleep just to catch me off guard). Down the hallway as fast as he could go, so fast his hind legs were outpacing his front legs, and around the corner. As I tore down the hallway after him, I could hear people laughing and shouting 'look at him go'.

Oh god he's headed right for the office of 'X' who will not be pleased...

Tongue hanging out of his crazy laughing mouth, he disappeared amongst the cubicles OF COURSE in the production area where the people with less humor sit.

And then he was gone.

So I'm running along as quietly as I can in high heeled boots calling in a whisper, 'Stanley! Stanley! Come back here you ratfaced little demon...' Hoping to God 'X' or somebody like 'X' doesn't come round the corner and see me acting like an idiot.

Way to go from 'professional' to 'nutty chick' really fast, Ann.

And I turn around and Stanley is just sitting there with his head cocked sideways and this big grin on his face like he's laughing at me. So now he's tied to a chair in here.

Goldilocks and His Three Bears re-issued by Loose id

2011-05-14T12:39:00.001-07:00

Loose id will re-issue my m/m/m/m domestic discipline tour de farce 'Goldilocks and His Three Bears' on July 5! It's had a little editing and my few years of experience applied to it this time round. Hopefully good news for those of you who've written wondering where you can purchase a copy.

'A Man, a Jersey and a Tight End' will follow and a sequel that takes a little more serious turn and features two minor characters from the first two books.

I'm struggling with blurbage writing this weekend. Haven't seen the cover yet, but Loose id excels at covers as you all know.

Son of a Gun gets 9 stars at Outlaw Reviews!

2011-04-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

A nice review of Son of a Gun at Outlaw Reviews! here

Nine out of ten stars and insightful comments. Happy Tuesday!

Insomnia

2011-04-18T01:59:00.000-07:00

We see all the statistics about crime going up during a full moon. And hear about unbalanced people becoming more unbalanced and animals getting a little wacky. So I guess I should be grateful that my luna only results in ghastly insomnia.

I'm not even a little sleepy. The dogs are asleep. All the lights in the neighborhood, except of course the street lights and those on the freeway nearby (this IS Los Angeles) are dark. Even the weirdo who lives in the building behind mine. Who stands out in the driveway sometimes at 2 a.m yelling things like, "where are my pants?" and "well I can't find my keys. They're in my pants. hee hee". Even he's asleep. Or passed out in a gutter.

But I'm wide awake. Like a cartoon of awake. Eyes wide open, bloodshot, craaaazy looking.

A long time ago my girlfriend said I must be a werewolf.

grrr.

How to read a review

2011-04-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

I love a good review. What writer doesn't? Sometimes I feel like a chimp scribbling in a cave, here, with very little feedback from anyone but my editor and my best friend (who still thinks its amazing that I've been published at all, so the bar is a little low). The positive feedback is heaven. AND a well-written review can give you some clues as to what you are doing right. Which is super nice.

But I get icky reviews. sad face. Of course I do. I'm not going to point them out because a: I'm not telling you this so you can go kick the crud out of that mean reviewer. and b: I'm kind of hoping that minimal attention will make the review disappear, if not from the internet, at least from my memory.

But what to do with it? I mean, it's a well thought out review. Written by an intelligent person who knows the biz.

Let me tell you about my very first bad review:

I was in fifth grade and had just written what I felt was an interesting and exciting story about a dog who defended a child from some bad person. I felt that it was the most brilliant and facinating thing I had ever penned. It was written as an assignment and when the teacher spoke to the class, having graded our stories and before handing them back, she offered up two which she hoped we would use as examples. One being an example of a good story, the other an example of a horrid one.

Guess whose was the horrid story?

Sad face. With tear.

After the mortification, instead of hating the teacher, whom I actually adored. Instead of complaining to my mother or my best friend. I studied the notes on the paper. It was kind of hard to ignore the big fat red 'D' at the top, but I think I have managed after a couple of decades to avoid the errors that my fifth grade teacher pointed out. Now I've got a whole nest of new nasty habits and problems, of course, but I'm slowly scaling the mountain and I hope I get a little better every time.

So, what to do with a bad review?

Learn from it. And next time, write better.

Want to write a compelling blurb?

2011-04-15T18:13:00.001-07:00

Amber Green, author extraordinaire, bullet points the process of writing a winning blurb on my website today: http://www.amriley.net

Amber has just released her third in the Turner and Turner trilogy 'Turncoat' and demonstrates her power of blurbage for her book.

Go over there and check it out!

The Big Thrill

2011-04-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Big Thrill asks a number of writers "What Can Thriller Writers Learn from the Movies" this week, and I'm one of the writers who weighed in. Although belatedly. I'm lame.

Check it out. Neil Plaksy and Charlie Cochrain among others are bringing up some very interesting points.

AM Riley has a shiny new website!!!

2011-04-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

An anonymous donor took pity. Or maybe was just fed up with my ineptitude. And buffed and shined and forced my idiot self to figure out enough Wordpress to post.

Now my site is functional, informative and timely. Deus Gratias.

Please come by and oogle the new banner and tell me if there is anything else you'd like to see.

http://www.amriley.net

Blackhawks make the playoffs by skin of their teeth

2011-04-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota Wild rose up in one glorious and defiant moment to defeat their despised rivals, the Dallas Stars (formerly the Minnesota Northstars, so you understand their fierce hatred) for the first time this season and DENY the Stars the eighth seed in the playoff line-up. So Chicago held onto their spot, despite losing to the Redwings earlier in the day.

PHEW.

I was physically ill watching the Redwings vs Blackhawks game early Sunday. Dallas has been coming on strong in the back stretch, and Chicago lost Sharp to injuries at the same time, so we've been sinking in the ranks, and Dallas has been rising. Two points saved our bacon.

There must be a psychological term for a level of fandom where one feels an urge to vomit when ones team gets eliminated?

Anyway, nausea averted for the time being. Our first match-up will be Vancouver. So we'll get one round and be out, but I'm okay with that. The Canucks deserve a good year.

ten stars for 'Death by Misfortune'

2011-04-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

I stumbled over a review of 'Death by Misfortune' at Outlaw Reviews today. It's been there for a week, but I'm such a lame internets surfer I only became aware of it through a google alert.

It's an amazing review written by a talented writer. The sort of review that writers print out and paste on the wall above their computers to warm them on those chilly days when no words will come...

Since today's to-do list includes the following:
1) finish taxes, write ginormous check to federal government may they rot
2) clean dog pee from carpet
4) look at the current mystery WIP again and try to figure out what is wrong with a principal character and why he seems made of cardboard.

I really needed this little boost today.

so, yeah. squee.

Kindle, Smashwords and out of print books

2011-04-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

I have a few books that have fallen out of print in the past several years. They were written some time ago and need re-writing, re-editing and maybe a sexier cover or two. One of them has a sequel in the works.

I've published one on Smashwords, the infamous "Of the Clan O'Grady" which was originally published with Changeling Press. I have two sequels just malingering on my hard drive here. I wonder if I should publish them as Kindle books at reduced prices.

Would it be wise to publish them on Smashwords AND as Kindle on Amazon? Or is there some legal deal with that? After all, I am the publisher in both cases, am I not.

It would be satisfying to see them up and available again. In a sort of non-financial spiritual way.

But I wonder if it would be worth (now I'm talking $$$$) the considerable time it would take to dust them off, fix them up and format them.

Any opinions or requests will be duly noted and considered.

2011-04-08T16:14:00.001-07:00

I very nice review of 'Death by Misfortune' over at Joyfully Reviewed.

And someone volunteered her time and expertise to get something like a decent website up for me. I'm so excited. I'll keep everyone posted.

I was interviewed by The Big Thrill

2011-03-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

I was interviewed today by The Big Thrill

I was thrilled to be interviewed by Michael F. Stewart at The Big Thrill.

I'm still sorting out how to do these interview via mail thingies, but he was very nice and there are a lot of interesting articles on the site. Check it out!

'Three Dollar Bill Reviews' gives Death by Misfortune 4.5 stars

2011-03-29T14:51:00.000-07:00

A very nice review over at "Three Dollar Bill Reviews" of 'Death by Misfortune'. Sweet!

Okay, so I'm going to give a book on Goodreads a 'star' rating...

2011-03-26T11:10:00.001-07:00

I Am J by Cris Beam

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I wasn't going to give star ratings anymore, but this book is exceptional. J is a teenaged boy who was born with a girls anatomy. I've never read a more insightful piece about this subject. It's a YA and I hope it will make its way into the hands of young people who need it. I'm on my second reading of it and still amazed by the character and his story. Highly highly recommended.

View all my reviews

I live in a dog park.

2011-03-24T17:28:00.001-07:00

So I already introduced Stanley. He's the newest addition to my little crew.

Since Buddy is moving out soon,
I thought it would be nice to get Bella a new playmate

Stanley is insane. And he seems not sure yet that we are going to keep him so he varies between very very good doggy to very saucy and disobedient doggy. It is really hard to resist him when he's saucy but I am trying to be strong.

Meanwhile, Benton has been my best friend since 2007. Here's Benton at the beach zoning out on the waves and the smells.

There are two stories in my place and a narrow set of stairs leading to the bedrooms. These days it sounds like a thunderous herd as the pack follows me up and down the stairs. The kids now refer to my place as The Dog Park.

I love it.

Rape is not a compliment

2011-03-23T16:37:00.001-07:00

Recently, I saw this blurb on a book at Goodreads.

There is one upside to almost getting raped. It proves that you're at least desirable to someone.

I have no reason to believe that the author of the book meant any harm by it. I also do not believe that the author thinks rape is a good thing. The blurb is unfortunate. In my opinion, it should be taken down.

Here is just a little information about rape from the 'Rape Myths and Facts' site:

Myth: Rape is caused by lust or uncontrollable sexual urges and the need for sexual gratification.

Fact: Rape is an act of physical violence and domination that is not motivated by sexual gratification.

Myth: Women provoke sexual assault by their appearance. Sexual attractiveness is a primary reason why a rapist selects a victim.

Fact: Rapists do not select their victims by their appearance. They select victims who are vulnerable and accessible. Victims of sexual assault range in age groups from infants to the elderly. Sexual attractiveness is not an issue.

From the US Bureau of Statistics:

Fact #1: 17.6 % of women in the United States have survived a completed or attempted rape. Of these, 21.6% were younger than age 12 when they were first raped, (woho those sexy children!) and 32.4% were between the ages of 12 and 17. (Full Report of the Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences of Violence Against Women, Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey, November, 2000)

Assault causes sometimes life long damage.

Fact #13: Rape victims often experience anxiety, guilt, nervousness, phobias, substance abuse, sleep disturbances, depression, alienation, sexual dysfunction, and aggression. They often distrust others and replay the assault in their minds, and they are at increased risk of future victimization (DeLahunta 1997).

Fact #14: According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, more than 260,000 rapes or sexual assaults occurred in 2000; 246,180 of them occurred among females and 14,770, among males (Department of Justice 2001).

Fact #15: Sexual violence victims exhibit a variety of psychological symptoms that are similar to those of victims of other types of trauma, such as war and natural disaster (National Research Council 1996). A number of long-lasting symptoms and illnesses have been associated with sexual victimization including chronic pelvic pain; premenstrual syndrome; gastrointestinal disorders; and a variety of chronic pain disorders, including headache, back pain, and facial pain (Koss 1992).Between 4% and 30% of rape victims contract sexually transmitted diseases as a result of the victimization (Resnick 1997).

So, when I read a blurb that says: There is one upside to almost getting raped. It proves that you're at least desirable to someone. I'm sorry, I can't just let this go without saying, it is exactly this sort of attitude that makes recovery so difficult for victims. Shame on you.

Bad blurb no bisquit.

2011-03-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

A Dish Served Cold by Andrew Ashling

The reviews look good. The blurb for this is horrible, offensive and should be changed.

"There is one upside to almost getting raped. It proves that you're at least desirable to someone"

Are you effing kidding me? Rape is NEVER about attraction. It is ASSAULT. It is about power and sickness and hurting another person, not about sexual attraction.

From the reviews I get the impression that this unfortunate blurb does not reflect the opinions of the author.

View all my reviews

Stanley Kowalski

2011-03-21T17:47:00.001-07:00

Stanley Kowalski is the name of our newest dog. I think. After the 'Due South' character, not the 'Streetcar...' though I suppose there might be confusion.

My other dog's name is Benton after Benton Fraser. It's a slash reference.

Isn't he Mr. Adorables?

I love L.A.

2011-03-18T09:16:00.001-07:00

Tip the world over on its side and everything loose will land in Los Angeles.
- Frank Lloyd Wright

This is the view from my editing room. The building next door is under construction so my view also includes cool entertainment I.E., men in hardhats driving destructo machinery around. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, so a view of the mountains will never seem old to me.

Inside, I work with the coolest people on the planet. Artists, writers and film makers, of every race, creed and life style preference you can imagine. It's like the United Colors of Beneton here. If you are looking for diversity in employment, I highly recommend Disney Studios.

Of course, this being the second largest city in the United States, it's a big plus to make a decent living here. Nobody likes to live in the economically challenged neighborhoods of a super large city. I think most of what people see on television is about the scary parts of town and the people who must struggle for survival in those neighborhoods.

It took fifteen minutes for me to get to work this morning. I drove here in a convertible with the top down.

I love Los Angeles.

Things that make me wonder...

2011-03-17T18:25:00.000-07:00

When did 'politically correct' become a bad thing? I mean, if an institution seeks to update themselves with an eye towards greater fairness, why would they be criticized, with snideness, for trying to be politically correct? Isn't that a compliment?

When did Christianity become the National Religion? I missed the memo.

And when did Christianity come to mean conservative? Jesus was a liberal, people!

And since when did Conservative mean 'we care what you do in the privacy of your own home'? The conservatives I knew growing up believed whole heartedly that their private lives were none of the governments business. When did that change?

No wonder it is so hard to have a rational discussion anymore. Somebody has taken the words and packed them with agendas, misinformation and skewed meaning.

Some days I think the greatest threat to this country is our ever decreasing standards in education. Less money to guns and more to teachers, IMHO, is the solution.

Back Amongst the Living

2011-03-14T17:35:00.000-07:00

Frightening things happened to the world while I was safe in my downy white bed. I was watching the sunrise and the finches hopping around in the palm tree outside and thinking that if it weren't for the internet, and the media, I'd never know about the horrible events in Japan. And isn't it strange to think that there was a time when a woman walking the Mil Potrero Highway in California would have NO IDEA what might be happening in other parts of the world?

Today at work I realized that there is an illumination problem in my room. I've thought it was my glasses, and then my contacts, and then just my dreamy lazy brain, but after spending several days in a properly illuminated bedroom I realize that there is something wrong with my office. I can't see anything in here!

I don't want to turn on the flourescent lights because they give me a headache. Maybe I need some new bulbs for my desk lamp. Are there better kinds of light for computer work?

New Contest - Win a copy of Death by Misfortune!

2011-03-12T17:53:00.001-08:00

The Erie Gay News is running a contest online to give away copies of Death by Misfortune. They've got a lot going on over there, so check it out!

Day Four - The Road to Recovery

2011-03-12T09:58:00.000-08:00

Mr. Hyde has withdrawn somewhat and I'm wobbling about today. I may even manage to take the dogs for a walk. I'm dissecting the plot of a book I'm working on. Taking out characters, blending them and changing the interaction between two of them... it's like re-knitting a cable sweater, but it has to be done.

On Book Two of a Reed Farrel Coleman series that Val recommended, Redemption Street. It's the second in the Moe Prager series. The first was Walking the Perfect Square which I read yesterday.

The books seem terribly dated, so I was surprised to see that the publish date for the first was 2002. I'm not sure whether they were reissued (I did look around the web trying to find out) or if Mr. Coleman is an expert at writing decades gone by. Even the 'witty' dialogue is dated. So much so that it was like listening to my older relatives trying to be funny. The flavor and feel is so consistent that I found I didn't mind too much. It does look like the series comes into this century eventually, as Innocent Monster is a post 911 mystery.

Home Sick - Day Three and Cranky

2011-03-11T10:12:00.000-08:00

Whine #1: It is completely unfair to introduce supernatural elements at the end of an action adventure and not explain why. I'm fairly miffed with T. Jefferson Parker at the moment.
Whine #2: Despite my best efforts, I dribbled RED #28 dyed cough syrup onto my white coverlet. I hope there's a way to get it out.
Whine #3: There's a person outside loudly contructing or deconstructing something. I want to drop heavy objects onto him to make him STOP.
Whine #4: Everything tastes like soap.
Whine #5: I don't particularly care for first person narrative. Yeah yeah I know. I shouldn't complain since I've written first person narrative, but it's like listening to someone who can't shut up talk about themselves for 300 pages.
Whine #6: The bottoms of my feet itch. But I'm super ticklish so I can't scratch them. But they itch.
Whine #7: I've watched all of my DVD's.

Home Sick - Day Two

2011-03-10T11:12:00.000-08:00

The view from my bed is pretty. Those green 'berries' hanging from the palm tree out there are the food source for quite a few squirrels, rats and birds. And the orchids on my desk are one of my hobbies. I've been reading a lot about orchids lately. I'll post something later when my brain is working in a more linear manner.

Continuing to read. I've read several Lisa Gardner books lately. I just finished The Perfect Husband which seems kind of her typical theme. Abusive men, abused but courageous women. Children threatened. There are romantic elements to the stories, but I wouldn't call them romances. Very strongly written tales, so it's hard to put the book down, even if you know how it's going to end. The pov shifts carry the story forward quickly and keep the reader freaked out, because we see the bad guy at the end of the block just a chapter before he intersects with our heroine.

I recognize the same 'trope' as in m/m romances. Big strong manly men who are protective and almost superhuman in their abilities. Sex that is totally penis based and, of course, dramatically repeatedly orgasmic. You know. We read it all the time and it's super hot. Not realistic but super hot, perhaps because it's not realistic.

Pleasure is easy in romances. Our heroes don't retain water or feel fat and ugly at inconvenient times. The gorgeous hunk or hunkette turns out to be good in bed, too, with an almost psychic ability to know what is needed and wanted. Great sex means love. Just like we all wish it would. This happens as much, or more, in m/m romance. I'm not a gay man but I know a few. It just isn't that easy. For anybody.

Maybe that's why I'm getting tired of the romance genre right now. I want to read about people who manage despite the difficulties. I want to read about love that isn't easy. Sex that people make work because they care enough about each other to do so.

I loved Crazy Love because it was that sort of romance. So I've been picking my way through books by David Lozell Martin. He's really not a romance writer but he does have emotional depth and realism. Maybe that's what I want to head towards.

Meanwhile, I have soup and Switch. A weirdly magical lesbian story.

Sick Day

2011-03-09T10:02:00.000-08:00

I'm home sick. I'm bored. I feel too rotten to actually do anything.

When I have free time, I write. Granted, sometimes 'writing' really consists of me grousing while trying to sort out the latest mess I've made of a plot and the hapless characters stuck in it. For instance, I have this unhappy dude who is suspected of murder traipsing off to an adventure and thought 'easy peasy this plot writes itself'.

Ho ho! says my plot. Take this! And I have a sudden dump of too many characters... I mean, it looks like the Alewives in Lake Michigan during a red tide. All writhing around bitching and complaining. I know what I have to do. But I'm sick and just the idea of rolling up my sleeves and sorting this mess is like asking a sick person to wash the three days of dishes that stacked up when the washer broke. Did that metaphor turn into a snake in my hands? Yes it did.

Like I said, I'm sick.

Snakes and dead fish. What the heck?

So... I opened Kindle and read a bit. This would be good except of course my eyes are burning and my muscles ache and I can't concentrate. I finished 'Soulless' which is the vampire book Jane Austen never wrote. (that's a good thing) but I read it while reading 'The Border Lords' which is a book Miss Austen would have probably had the gardener take out and burn. Not because it is bad but because it is intensely violent.

How did I get from dead fish to drug cartels? Well, it seemed like a logical progression a few minutes ago. I think my fever is going up again.

You know how when you're sick after day three or so you run out of Kleenex and opt for the roll of Charmin? But my roll of tp has toppled off the bed and disappeared and the maid seems to have taken the day off. I need lemon tea! I need a cold compress! Wait, what era am I in?

Back to the book. How is it I've written fifty thousand words and only five thousand of them are any good? How does that happen? This would have never happened to Jane who, I understand, wrote in ink pen on paper.

Now my head hurts, my nose is both stuffy and uncomfortable, I'm itchy and irritable and I can't write worth a damn. Jane would call me Pathetic.

Where is that frickin' maid?

Literary Nymphs gives Death by Misfortune 5 stars

2011-03-05T09:02:00.000-08:00

Literary Nymphs gave "Death by Misfortune" five stars and a very nice review. It's just a little spoilerish, if you haven't read the book yet.

Of course, if you know me then it's not that spoilerish. I do like to stack up the bodies.

And Pottery Barn delivered my bed at 8 oclock this morning. They almost had to roll me out onto the floor to deliver it. But, yay! A bed!

Mule by Shane McCrae

2011-02-26T11:29:00.000-08:00

Mule by Shane McCrae

I think this book came up on Carol Guess' blog. Since I really enjoy her style, I bought it on faith.

What a nice surprise.

It reads a little like an echo, both the way it is written:

As we divorced Nicolas rode

Internal horses /And watching him

from the bench at the edge of the park/In wildflowers

him in wildflowers him in fileds/Of wildflowers him in fields on playgrounds which

Blossom from the ground

Must be covered over with foram with bark

It was and was possible

To love him just enough to sit there watch-/ing not enough for us to stay togehter

Not more enough than us

And the subject matter is seen as snatches of memories.

The author describes his divorce and he and his wife's emotional state about their autistic son.

I'm usually old school with my poetry, 20th century lyrical poets with a modern twist are to my taste, but this is a lovely little book that I highly recommend.

View all my reviews

Critique partners/ Beta buddies/ the quest for 'The One'

2011-02-17T08:03:00.000-08:00

They should have a match.com for critique partners.

You know, post photos of your most recent books (all pictures are recent!). What you like, what you don't like. What you can't stand. Your ideal.

I started writing back in 2001. I had a beta reader who tirelessly and for free (!) checked everything I put on my fanfiction site before I posted it. That poor woman taught me rudimentary skills that I ought to have already known. She squawked when I let the angst draw out too long. She gurgled when scenes worked and was kind but honest when they did not.

So, you see, I was spoiled.

I'm on the hunt again and I find I hold everyone up to her standards. A little tough.

How does one find a partner? Besides ones relatives or SO, who in their right mind will read this stuff?

BDSM and Domestic Discipline

2011-02-16T10:58:00.000-08:00

I haven't learned what I know of BDSM or the Leather lifestyle from google. I know some people. and I've been in it for a minute. There are things I understand, viscerally, and things I only 'get' because it's been explained to me. And then of course there are areas in which I remain utterly clueless. Because I am not a man and that's just how it goes.

I ALSO know a few people who are in domestic discipline relationships. But here, I'm only getting things as they've been explained to me., because I have NO experience with dom disc relationships.

There's a wibbly line between the two, as I see it. The only traditional leather-type relationship to which I was privy was very much like a domestic discipline relationship. There was a similar exchange of power and trust. However, I KNOW there are arrangements out there that run the gamut. From non-sexual to only sexual and beyond.

I'm working on the sequel to my old domestic discipline books, "Goldilocks and His Three Bears" and "A Man, a Jersey and a Tight End" and I'm trying to examine the different ways these relationships evolve. I wondered how readers feel about the differences and similarities, if any between BDSM and DD.

But why do we write?

2011-02-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

Or make art at all?

My mother kept one of my first drawings. It is a figure drawn on red construction paper. When she asked me what it was I said, 'a girl in a red dress'. What this tells me is I had nothing in mind when I drew it. I only named it after being asked.

But what compelled me to draw it?

Trust me; there was nothing in my environment, at the age of three, that would encourage me to draw pictures. I may have been receiving positive feedback by the time I was five because by then I was in public school and scribbling like a demon. But WHY?

Nobody seems to know.

I hopped in the Wayback Machine and returned to CalArts where we discussed this subject ad nauseum sometimes in our right heads, sometimes not so much. People feel compelled to make things, to communicate. It is only later that they articulate reasons for these actions and, of course, by then there are all kinds of grown up people type reasons. "I want to make a difference." "I want to communicate my feelings." Still, there is no answer to the question But WHY?

A blog I sometimes frequent, The Greater Good, interviewed several artists and asked them this question. The one that resonated the most strongly for me was Kwame Dawes:

"I write in what is probably a vain effort to somehow control the world in which I live, recreating it in a manner that satisfies my sense of what the world should look like and be like."

That comes close to the little-me who drew a girl on red construction paper. I have Aspergers and was very withdrawn, so I drew a lot. Later, I escaped into books and still later I attempted to alter the world of books in a way that suited me and my reality. I. E. a world peopled with Lesbian, Gay and gender queer people trying to re-write the rules and find some kind of happiness.

Somewhere in there come the readers. I haven't yet figured out where, except I am pleasantly surprised to find you here in my little world... hello!

Just as I wrote this, I read Nathan Bransford's blog and saw that he is writing along the same lines, but of course more fluently.

Why We Write -- Revisited

2011-02-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

Everyone asks it and there are many many blogs about it. Why do writers do what they do?

I've been thinking about this question and thinking about the effect of the internet on writers. It used to be a solitary job, but now it can be much more public. Actually, it behooves one to stay in the public eye as much as possible as it does appear to influence sales.

How many writers are hooked on the twitter/chat/group interaction, though? I only wonder because I can imagine how gratifying the attention could be to an individual accustomed to working in solitary. I work in public and squeeze in writing time, so I'm not quite as starved for feedback, but during a brief period when I had no work I got addicted to the internet.

It made me want to write faster so I could get a book out there. And is that messed up or what?

Because that is NOT why I write. I'm a storyteller. I make up people and events and wrap them around each other. I'd do it if no one ever read a single book of mine. And I worry that I might be more particular if publication were a distant foggy dream, not practically immediate upon finishing the first draft.

How does the instantaneous internet interaction affect the quality and subject matter of our books? I'm just wondering...

Does the Art excuse the Artist?

2011-01-31T08:05:00.000-08:00

There was a hypothetical question my best friend and I argued while we were still getting our degrees in Art History: If a building were on fire and you had a choice between saving a Rembrandt and saving a cat, which would you choose?

Okay, besides the fact that those stupid hypothetical questions are always too simplistic, and besides the (also) fact that my best friend HATED cats so the question was more whether she would throw a cat into the fire...

I'd save anything alive before I'd save a painting. A pointsettia. Anything living is more important than art. It was her opinion that Art was superior to Life. And so the argument would begin.

Certain 'great' artists were morally reprehensible human beings. Surprised? No, I didn't think so. Matisse, for instance, who painted the famous "Dance of Life" impregnated his wife repeatedly and then gave his children to an orphanage. They were an impediment to his lifestyle, you see. Keep in mind, orphanages were a lot worse then than they are now.

Kind of ruins his art for me.

The same goes with authors. I loved Dean Koontz for many years. His descriptive passages are vivid and exciting. I could read them over and over. Sadly, he is reported to have said many disparaging things about Asian people. The man is a bigot! Who knew. It has spoiled my enjoyment of his skill. Sadly.

Now, my friend's argument was that all people are wicked and that their art redeems them on some level. She has a point, right? My question is, where do you draw the line? CAN you draw a line (I'd say, 'no') For instance, how can I read books written by mysoginists, given that I've spent most of my life fighting for women's rights? Or how can I read books written by men who subsequently supported Hitler?

Does it ruin books (or other art) for you if you know that the person who created it was an asswipe? Does it matter, or not?

on Arrogance, Greed, and the Reasons We Make Art

2011-01-30T11:54:00.000-08:00

I love capital letters. One of my all-time favorite authors, Jane Austen, used them incorrectly and in excess. They successfully place ones tongue firmly in ones cheek. So when I say Arrogance, I mean it with the capital 'A'. As in 'nobody does it better than I and here I sit on my mighty highchair pronouncing judgment on all of you' Arrogance. I.E., the king of the dump is feeling mightier than his other vagrant friends.

And Greed. I write, currently, in a small pocket of a fan base. We aren't making the New York Times Bestseller list anytime soon, are we? We aren't talking bazillions of fan dollars. Snarling and worrying over a few hundred, or even a thousand, purchases more or less makes us small and mean.

Man makes art for no good reason, evolutionarily speaking. (Evolutionarily? :) Oh, dear.) Obviously, there is a certain amount of ego involved. We slave away and see others (perhaps) getting praise for work we might not like and we feel??? offended??? outraged??? We forget that EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT TASTES and we get on some high horse and freak out. Writing is insecure and lonely and scary. And we all worry about money. And then there is the Love factor. It's hard to work in isolation and get no Lurve all day. It makes you nuts.

But, I'm lucky, in that my 'day job' is a creative one. I get feedback. I get praise. I get smacked upside the head and I've learned to appreciate that feedback as well because it makes me better at what I do. I observe, every day, how hard it is for creative people to praise other creative people. How difficult it is to accept that someone else might take a concept and use it differently. We are Opinionated. We Care. We are Outraged at Incompetence. lol We are Arrogant and Greedy and have to smack ourselves periodically because truthfully, humility makes us better artists.

Sadly, I don't see as much of that being learned by writers. I am painfully aware of the emotions and feelings that writers suffer. Hey, I'm not immune. But I hope I have learned something from working in Animation. Arrogance and Greed. God save me from it. I mean that. If I ever have an 'off' day and I put down other authors, or set myself up as some kind of standard (trust me, this won't happen anytime soon, but if it does) smack me upside the head and make me go read Thomas Hardy. Remind me to be humble.

Okay. Done. Going off to read some old school BDSM that teddypig recommended.

omg mom I want to have Taylor Mali's baby...

2011-01-25T15:44:00.000-08:00

I Could Be a Poet

by Taylor Mali (www.taylormali.com)

I think I could be a poet because I like to wear a lot of black.
And I can think of incongruous images like a Marxist with a trust fund.
A Porsche pulling a U-Haul, a lobsterman in Birkenstocks sipping a cappuccino,
with his pinkie pointing toward the sky.
I have studied the poets who sing song out their lines
for no other reason than that’s how it’s done,
in love with the sound of their own voices,
ending each line going up,
every single line going up,
as they read, and read, and . . . read?
See, declarative sentences that in prose would go down,
in poetry seem to go up
as if it adds some hidden meaning:
I know what I’m talking about and you should too.

And I am not afraid to get pissed off!
I am not afraid to use that ONE requisite swear word
to let you know I am FUCKING serious, man!
I’m not afraid to

SHOUT! WITH INTENSITY! AND LONG, DRAMATIC . . .

PAUSES

FRAUGHT WITH ANGST!

And still you can hear the lines going up.
And the words, the vocabulary words—
Glaconian, distemic, irrepscenteelia—
Thrown in to remind you
“I am a writer! Eat my Verbal dust!”

And then the end
Spoken softly, hauntingly tender,
Though not devoid of irony,
Ending abruptly as if there is more . . .

Plot and Structure

2011-01-24T17:04:00.000-08:00

Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Okay, I have quite a few 'how to write' books.

Some are awesome to read just because they are inspiring. For instance, "On Becoming a Novelist" by John Gardner, made me feel like it was a holy journey to pick up pen (or place fingers on keyboard) and compose a story.

Some are absolute garbage that tell you nothing you don't know and without any kind of details, so you're left feeling like you just read a synopsis of a synopsis. Or like an Apple software user manual that is nothing but press for the author's other products.

I found this one while going down in the quicksand of a novel in which I knew the characters, knew their motivations, knew the beginning middle and end and yet could NOT find the story in the mass of words on the page.

He spells it out. Yes, it's what you already know. You know good story. You know the so-called "Hero's Journey" But it helps very much to have it pointed out clearly. At least it helped me.

I do love Dean Koontz, and so the frequent quotes from his and Stephen King's books did not bother me. If you are an anti-Koontz reader (I know of a few) then you might not be as tickled.

View all my reviews

sick again...

2011-01-23T17:38:00.001-08:00

I thought I'd gotten over whatever that was, but last night my throat started to hurt and tonight I have a fever and I've lost any desire to move. I've changed the colors of my blog in an attempt to make it easier on the eyes, but it unfortunately resembles burnt split pea soup.

bleh.

bye bye Bears

2011-01-23T15:19:00.000-08:00

The did better than I thought they would. If I gambled on sports I would have made a fortune on my prediction that Cutler wouldn't survive the game uninjured.

the heartbreak of it all...

2011-01-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

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book I'm reading tonight

2011-01-21T23:24:00.000-08:00

Losing Everything by David Lozell Martin

Currently the writer I most want to emulate.

View all my reviews

I'm going to call it research

2011-01-17T19:41:00.000-08:00

I love animals of the canine persuasion. Especially square headed toothy, battlescarred dogs whose backhair goes all prickly when they growl at the man who delivers packages to my door. So some time ago I thought I might try my hand at a sort of were wolf story.

Well, a sort of were dog, weir dog? Hmm.

Anyway, I'm feeling a little better today but not 100 percent so I decided to play with it a little. And I ran into the problem with the images in my head.

Not romantic. I can't even ::shudder:: imagine finding that attractive. So I used goodreads "Genre" search function for the first time. Not only can I look for werewolf stories available as ebooks, but I can see which ones my 'friends' have enjoyed.

This is so cool.

I read Amber Green's "Bareback" today. And now I think I sort of understand how the animal thing can be sexy. Then I downloaded "With Love" by J.L. Langley.

(Kindle via Amazon is wicked. There is virtually instantaneous satisfaction. My card is auto charged and I don't even feel the blood leaving me, so to speak. Evil.)

Anyway, then I purchased Stephanie Hecht's "Primal Passions" (despite the hideous cover)

It's research!

Never read reviews...

2011-01-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

I know better. I'm my own worst critic and I agonize over every book. The fact that I write slowly and don't come to it naturally, but by painstaking labor, makes me hyper aware that I'm undoubtedly attempting to do something nature never intended me to do. : )

But I persevere and usually have the good sense not to read my reviews. They will only mess me up in the head and echo there while I'm trying to write.

Maybe I can blame the fever. Or the boredom of being bedridden. But I read a couple of reviews today.

Stupid stupid stupid.

feeling gross

2011-01-15T13:07:00.000-08:00

Do we still say 'gross' or am I showing my age?

I feel wretched and yet I can't just hang it up and go to bed. I wanted to finish a short I'm editing (film) and write quite a bit of a book I've got in the works. My head is throbbing, my eyes are burning. If I take my temp I know what I'll discover and so I'm not going to do it.

My stomach is grumbling and feels like a volcano about to blow.

Stress, germs and rock 'n roll. It'll get you every time.

Flashing Teddy-pig

2011-01-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

Teddy-pig has a new thing "Show me your Scrivener" He's asking all the authors who use the software to send him a screenshot of their WIP. I'm still in the 'trial' version and I love it to bits. This is the first writing software I've ever found not to be more trouble than it's worth and I sent a screenshot of "If Not for You" to teddy.

And now I feel like I've flashed my undies at the world. There is my novel all naked and stuff. Typos and curse words and all...

Yahoo comments - OR- Has the World Gone Mad?

2011-01-08T22:14:00.000-08:00

I have a yahoo email account, so I get the latest news, as reported by Associated Press, right next to my 'mail' box. I often click on the links and read the articles and sometime, if I find the article particularly interesting, I'll scroll down to read the comments of other readers.

Or.. I USED to read those comments. With complete anonymity, the unmonitored yahoo comments section has become a place where people can spew their sociopathic vitriole without ever needing to take responsibility for their words.

The recent shooting of Representative Gifford, for instance, spawned this comment: "shooting a Dem in the head isn't life thereatening. they've got no vital organs there." (sic)

Seriously? You post this on the internet? "Who are these people?" I asked -E-.

"They don't live in California," she tried to soothe me.

I don't believe her.

Well, someone has decided to TRY to get yahoo to at least moderate their comments section. He's started a facebook group here and I encourage you to join. If you're into facebook , that is.

And check out this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/opinion/30zhuo.html?_r=1

regarding the same topic.

Christmas Eve and World Hunger

2010-12-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

The title of my post sounds awfully momentous. I can't possibly write anything that lives up to it.

I hope you all are having a great holiday. I'm feeling super blessed this year. Disney gave us an entire week off, starting today. I work with an awesome group of creative and interesting people. I had money to buy gifts. Everyone I love is well and as happy as can be expected. My house will be full on Christmas day. A tiny dog is curled against my thigh as I type on my new MacBook Pro. I simply can't believe how lucky I've been.

So my early New Year resolution is to take steps to give other people as great a year as I've had. Despite the fact that I've no idea how to do this.

Luckily, Nathan Bradford posted a link to Heifer International on his blog. Y'all probably already knew that you can give a cow, goat, sheep, pig or whatever, to a needy family but I didn't. I've decided that since my sister beat me to the punch and already gave my mother an ereader, I'm going to give a goat to a family in her name. Neat.

As the week progresses, I hope to find other ways to give (hopefully not as expensive). I do plan a post-christmas give-away of my books as well.

Don't eat too much gingerbread. That stuff is dangerous.

book give away! Death by Misfortune

2010-12-15T08:49:00.000-08:00

Wander on over to 'Stumbling Over Chaos' and win a free copy of Death by Misfortune! Chris has been kind enough to run the contest on her blog.

Or maybe Chaos, the cat, is running it. I often wonder who is in charge over there.

Death by Misfortune's first review!

2010-12-14T07:58:00.000-08:00

Auntie Lynn, at Reviews by Jessewave, gave 'Death by Misfortune' five stars here.

Very nice of her and she did a thorough job reviewing a complex book so I'm very grateful.

I have four books simmering on the burners right now, the sequel to DbM being on 'low'. They are:

Sequel to "Son of a Gun" called "The Unmapped Country"
Sequel to "Death by Misfortune" called "I Dead Things"
Another Adam-the-vampire book called "Till Death Us Do Part" (this one is not even simmering at the moment, it's going to be a while)
And a new one called "If Not for You". Which I keep thinking I'm going to finish by the end of the month... and then something happens at work and I revise that thought.

My question is which would you rather see first? The 'Son of a Gun' sequel or the 'Death by Misfortune' sequel. Keeping in mind that my writing schedule looks like its been through a blender...

2010-12-12T19:54:00.000-08:00

The magic bunny and the dust bunny try to save my Droid from the twitter demon.

Accompanied by an orchid fairy and a crow.

And a happy rock.

What can I say? Things are slow at work...

MLR authors at Love Romance Cafe

2010-12-11T09:35:00.000-08:00

We are there. I posted something. There's a bunch of wild and crazy people exchanging info and recipes and God knows what else.

Come join us if you dare.

I'm not anti-social

2010-12-10T16:05:00.000-08:00

I have accounts on all the social networks that I've neglected off and on for the past year or so. It's not that I don't like people, I'm just a little shy of the internet.

And I have a problem with names. In real life, the real world where flesh and blood people talk to me daily, I have a problem remembering their names. I'm not a name-oriented person. I'll remember that their favorite flower is a hyacinth, or that their oldest son is at Vassar, or that they collect shoes... but I'll stand there and stammer and hem and haw when it's time to introduce them at a party because I can't, for the life of me, recall their name.

And then we have the internet where LG Bean is also Beanie is also LGB is also Sam. And is referred to frequently as both he AND she and has an alter ego who lives in Montreal. It is far far beyond my meager name-recall faculties to cope.

And the internet seems to be as moody and tidal as a teenager. I'm almost afraid to post lest I stick my finger in some brewing tempest.

I'm an internet wallflower. But its the holiday season and everybody is blogging and partying and decking the halls and I feel kind of like a girl with an empty dance card. So. Tomorrow I understand LRC (??? Love Romance Cafe I presume) is having an MLR author day and I shall be there with bells on.

2010-12-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

Death by Misfortune is available today from MLR Press as an ebook here.

Bill Turner, the closeted detective from "Amor en Retrogrado" and his partner, Kate Crandall, investigate the murder of a minor celebrity and soon find themselves up to their eyeballs in Hollywood secrets.

There's a lengthy excerpt at the MLR press site.

I've been working on this book simply for ages. The primary couple from AeR are NOT in this book, but Bill and his lover are. It has an enormous cast of characters, and I really enjoyed writing about the 'Hollywood' that I experience daily.

quoting from the HRC campaign's flyers:

2010-11-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, a record number of openly LGBT candidates prevailed, including newly elected David Cicilline (D) of Rhode Island, Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Rep. Jared Polis (D-CO), and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA). So. Yay.

The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) spent millions, and although they ousted three Iowa judges who ruled for marriage equality, many of their favored candidates lost – like Tea Party darlings Christine O'Donnell in Delaware (who founded a group to "cure" homosexuality) and Sharron Angle in Nevada (who refused donations from pro-equality companies), as well as Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman in California and Carl Paladino in New York. The man who likened homosexuality to alcoholism, Colorado's Ken Buck, also went down in defeat.

Proving, I think, that in the USA extremists and bigots are still universally distrusted and disliked.

What's the worst that could happen?

2010-11-02T15:22:00.000-07:00

I saw an article recently, written by a UK citizen. After their midterms and preceding ours he philosophized about people seeing the world from the blindness of a comforting ideology. And, as I watch the votes rolling in and I shudder and cringe at the sort of people we are now sending to Washington, I'm thinking about my own comforting ideology.

You see, I think I'm safe.

I don't think religious extremists are going to jail me for believing other than they do. I don't think political demigods will take over my government and send dissenters to some sort of Gulag. I don't think I will be executed for 'choosing' to love the wrong person.

And honestly you know, most of the crackpots will be ineffective. They'll make a lot of speeches and probably attract a lot of press. But in the end, they don't know how to govern and they'll waste their time and the tax payers money and then they will go away.

And the rich will get richer and the poor will become less educated and poorer and have less and less of a chance of climbing out of the hole they are in. The worst that can happen is what has been happening for some time. Electing people supported by big moneyed corporations (and seriously? who do you think supports this new Tea Party movement?) will only bring us more of the same.

I feel for the kids who's parents can't afford private school. I feel for the people struggling to make a better life for their family in this country. I feel for the individual struggling against the megabucks corporation. I can't believe they are stupid enough to vote for the monster that will eat them. But it looks like they are.

So, what's the worst that can happen? We will get exactly what we deserve.

But what if I'm wrong?

DADT ... going.. going...

2010-10-12T13:58:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101012/ap_on_re_us/us_gays_in_military

Yay.

2010-10-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

Kin by Holly Black

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I gobbled down 'Tithe' and am well into 'Valiant'. I'd not known that Holly Black (of the Spiderwick Chronicles) wrote books about Elves. Or these awesome graphic novels in which shadowly elfin figures linger in the corners of the frames, like something you see at the edge of your vision.

View all my reviews

And at the used bookstore today, I purchased the three-book series of original Sherlock Holmes stories as they appeared in the magazines. Illustrated! More on that in next few days.

Woke up before sunrise

2010-09-19T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ghastly. My body has adapted to my work schedule and I even wake up before sunrise on Sunday. This is the first weekend I've had in ages that didn't have a stack of duties and chores to accomplish and so I'm back to writing.

'Death by Misfortune' is in the hands of the editors. I'm slogging away at several others. I was working on a Humboldt murder mystery until it hit a plot snag, so I ran off to work on the sequel to Son of a Gun which may have been bumped in the queue since I now know how it's going to end and who-done-it. Here is my sort of plan for the next six months or so of writing: (subject to change without notice, given the nature of post production)

"If Not for You" a Humboldt Murder Mystery
"The Unmapped Country" sequel to 'Son of a Gun'
"Elves, Inc." A Hollywood Faerie Tale
"Till Death Us Do Part" and "I HEART Dead Things" sequels to "No Rest for the Wicked" and "Death by Misfortune" respectively are in that rudimentary state which defies end dates and projected pub dates.

Those are the five on my desktop every morning and evening and that I carry on a flash drive to work on in lulls during the day.

Every single one of them is in that horrible soupy embryonic state that is so hard to work on. Only the memory of having been in this same damned place with my other books keeps me going.

Meanwhile I'm reading up a storm. I've sort of ended my Marion Zimmer Bradley obsession for the moment and am well into Holly Black.

In which I babble about things I should probably not...

2010-09-11T17:16:00.000-07:00

This is one of those opinionated, political diatribes that I perhaps should not post. It makes me feel a little better, so just scroll on by if you become uncomfortable when writers of fiction spew their opinions all over the net.

I saw this today online, in response to the anniversary of 911, and it just blew my mind:

Today I went to the food market and as I was walking into the store I saw a women dressed from head to toe in a full black dress. Only her eyes were showing. I was so amazed I couldn't even breathe. I felt violated and wanted to scream. She must of went to the store fully covered to insult us and show she has the right to be what she is. A full covered slave for her man with no rights. I was so upset as a American and a women seeing a women in this country dressed like this. She does has the right to look like this but why does she come to this country and stay in her own.

We here as women enjoy our freedom and have rights. Why would you come here and choose to continue wearing clothing that means you are not treated as a equal as your husband. Does he cover from head to toe.
Well, I just froze and let her go to her car. However, we American's are
free and do allow other's to be free. However, I thought of a bomb being hidden under her black slavery outfit. I was ready to act. So let me say
you women can wear these horrible clothes to reflect women without rights in your home but I was ready to drop her if she tryed anything. I would give my life to stop these people from enslaving other humans. So wear your clothes even though you don't have but if you think for one moment that you can ever take over our country. Think again. I was ready to take you out without even thinking twice if I had to. I never thought Like this before. But I looked at wear you were going and watched your every step to your car. I am surprised you were able to drive. Lose the clothes or go back to your country and be a sexual slave to your husband there. Don't spread that hate here. We do not want you here. Go home. you make me sick.

Okay I am not reprinting this to mock this woman, or to revile her. I actually was awestruck. What blew my mind was the heartfelt emotion in her comment. It comes through, past the mispellings and grammatical errors, this fervent, deeply felt honest emotion. So much agony. So much anger and fear. Why?

Imagine the woman who has to go to a grocery store and be stared at by people like this writer "I thought of a bomb being hidden under her black slavery outfit" every day. Imagine living like that.

Imagine growing up 'in the land of the free and the home of the brave' and being LOOKED at like that.

This is going to ruin the entire premise upon which our Bill of Rights was written.

The line that stood out for me was "Don't spread that hate here." and all I could think was, obviously, there is no need to spread hate. It's been spread plenty thick already.

I won't give out the link. I don't want anyone going to this woman's location and blasting her verbally. What I do wonder is what is happening here? Where is this agonized diatribe coming from? What button is being pushed and who planted that button there? And, most importantly, what can we do to heal these people?

Yes, I'm still here.

2010-09-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

My absolutely most favorite cover ever. Just thought I'd share it.

And a Kurt Vonnegut quote:

Well, I've worried some about, you know, why write books ... why are we teaching people to write books when presidents and senators do not read them, and generals do not read them. And it's been the university experience that taught me that there is a very good reason, that you catch people before they become generals and presidents and so forth and you poison their minds with ... humanity, and however you want to poison their minds, it's presumably to encourage them to make a better world.
- "A Talk with Kurt Vonnegut. Jr." by Robert Scholes in The Vonnegut Statement (1973) edited by Jerome Klinkowitz and John Somer October 1966), later published in Conversations With Kurt Vonnegut (1988), p. 123

Don't know why that quote and this cover appealed to me simultaneously at 6 am on a Wednesday morning, but there you are.

Book Covers

2010-08-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

The bloody penis-headed monster attacks Amazons in cute furry outfits.

Who could resist this? Not me. Hell, I'd pay money for a poster of it to hang on my wall.

The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley

2010-07-31T11:59:00.000-07:00

The Shattered Chain by Marion Zimmer Bradley

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Having a blast re-reading all of MZB. The first time I read this book I remember being severely disappointed in the ending. Now, from the vantage point of having lived a bit, I can accept it philosophically. Wonderful world building and character development, of course. And everybody learns and grows. The cover of mine is remarkably sexual in a creepy way. I see the Goodreads cover is much nicer.Mine has a (forgive me but it's truly the correct description) a bloody penis headed monster attacking women. yick.

View all my reviews >>

Immortality is the Suck has been Joyfully Recommended

2010-07-28T15:24:00.000-07:00

Very nice. Immortality is the Suck was Joyfully Recommended by Joyfully Reviewed. Sweet.

I've been interviewed by Jessewave!

2010-07-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Come on over to Jessewave's blog and find out more than you ever needed to know about my life and my books.

http://www.reviewsbyjessewave.com/?p=27329

Hawks fans talk about what the win means.

2010-06-10T17:30:00.000-07:00

I snagged the following from http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=531386

Down the street from Joe's, three guys stood together high-fiving passers-by before they headed underground for their shift of work until 4 a.m. Construction workers Gene Surico, of Elburn, Ill., Pablo Vargas, of Chicago and Scott Bodeman, of Deerfield, Ill., each listened to the end of Game 6 on the radio while driving to work. Before starting their shift, they were taking in the scene of honking cars and happy Hawks fans, stopping briefly to celebrate with them. "This is just such a fun team to watch and root for," said Surico, who used to work at the United Center for eight years in the 1990s and saw three of the Bulls' NBA titles in person. "I have to be honest with you. I never thought I'd see this happen in my lifetime ... but then again, I never thought I'd live to see a black president either. But that happened and now this happened. It's pretty amazing."

HAWKS WIN THE 2010 STANLEY CUP!!!!

2010-06-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

I'll be blogging about this for days but...

And the highlight last night, one of many, was Jeremy Roenick who played in the 1992 Finals in which the Hawks lost. Now announcing the game, he said to his co-hosts, "...and it's redemption. For that boy back in '92. I saw him, crying when we were leaving the ice..." and he teared up.

aww.

I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime.

GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!!!

HAWKS WIN GAME FIVE

2010-06-07T17:46:00.000-07:00

They are one win away from the first Stanley Cup won by the franchise since 1961. They'll be playing in Philladelphia Wednesday and if, for some god awful reason, they don't win, they'll be back to Chicago for the seventh game on Friday.

I washed my Chicago fleece throw after the second loss in Philly, to wash away the bad mojo. See? It worked.

I've got another little hockey short in the works. I'll publish it to celebrate them winning the Stanley Cup.

The Catch Trap

2010-06-06T10:48:00.001-07:00

The Catch Trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I'm interested in what other writers of GLBT think of Marion Zimmer Bradley. I feel almost as if a piece of her got blown into my heart a decade ago. Like a dandelion gone to seed.

The Mists of Avalon was the first Arthurian legend based book that answered the need I had to see strong female characters in my favorite myth. Poor old Lord Tennyson had pretty much destroyed the women of the Round Table for me. Mindless idiots and evil witches. The Mists of Avalon was a sort of redemption.

Bradley was incredibly prolific and I haven't read all of her books. I'm thinking I may get myself down to a local used bookstore and find a few that I've missed.

This one reads, at times, like fan fiction. There are thousands of tiny story arcs shooting off into space while we follow the main three: Family, Flying trapeze history, and illegal love.

The last is handled with such insight and sympathy I am stunned every time I read it. She describes the loneliness, self-hatred and fear. The anger at having to hide this one true and beautiful thing in ones life, as if one is ashamed. And she does it simply and subtly, not hammering it home or making too much of it.

I think it ads to the book to know that one of her husbands was a gay man with whom she had a child. They were eventually divorced, but he and she remained friends. Bradley's deep compassion and love for human beings permeates all of her books. Her women and men are strong, sympathetic, and filled with mutual respect for each other.

The book is over 600 pages long. I've read it twice now. Towards the end, I find myself slowing and reading every page, savoring the world and the characters. This time I waited a week to read the last twenty pages, just to make it last.

I wish I could have met her. Her voice, nonetheless, is one of those that lives in my head.

View all my reviews >>

an ominous quiet ...

2010-06-05T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hawks lost the last two games. They are now 2/2 in the series going home for game five tomorrow.
We've been watching them play all year and I think we know them well enough to feel forboding and that nasty twinge in the gut with which Chicago sports fans are all too familiar...

I'm writing today and trying not to think about it.

In honor of GAME 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs

2010-05-31T18:27:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here eating Tums. It's 0/0 in the second and there's no telling which way it's going to go, but I uploaded a tiny (4540 words) little ice hockey/vampire m/m story to Smashwords here.

Now I'm trying to figure out Wikipedia. bleh. Anything to distract me. I've already screamed myself hoarse, scared the dogs and I think my neighbor is staring at me from her bedroom window.

::waves::

Happy Memorial Day everyone! and LETS GO BLACKHAWKS!!!!

HAWKS WIN GAME ONE 6 TO 5 !!!!!!

2010-05-29T20:17:00.000-07:00

I doubt many people are unaware of my hockey obsession. But perhaps you didn't know that I grew up in a hockey family in Chicago. The Chicago Blackhawks haven't been in a Stanley Cup playoff since 1992 (we lost), and we haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1961.

So I'm a little crazy tonight. And hoarse. I'm not taking this damned jersey off until they win.

Where in the world is AM Riley?

2010-05-27T07:56:00.000-07:00

I've gone back to work at one of the studios. It's like picking up your lantern and going back into the cave. Limited email and cellphone. A massive, network surveyed computer system that discourages browsing (as if I had time).

I'll be checking in periodically and I should be around on weekends. Haven't got my log in working yet so blogger and I aren't compatible while at work...
Wish me luck.

linkety to Mrs. Dalloway

2010-05-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Virginia Woolf's "Mrs. Dalloway" is 85 today. There is a good blog post on the book here. For myself, "To the Lighthouse" and "Jacob's Room" were the most moving of her works. I absolutely hate all of the movies. It's obscene to translate Woolf to film.

View all my reviews >>

Whatever Happened to the Purple Velvet Cake?

2010-05-21T18:14:00.001-07:00

This is Buddy. He came with The-Boy-who-sleeps-on-my-sofa. He is adorable and very very tall. He is so tall that when he jumps up he can lick my face, he can jump over five foot coffee tables in one bound, and he can reach the kitchen counters.

So, before I could take a picture of the Purple Velvet Cake (which would have been the Red Velvet Cake except the birthday girl requested purple) Buddy decided to taste some of the strawberry festooned frosting.

Or at least that's the story the other two dogs told me when they came charging upstairs to report that something terribly exciting was happening downstairs. Downstairs, Buddy was in a corner trying to look innocent and like he'd just woken from a nap, the Purple Velvet Cake was frosting side down on the kitchen floor with a broken plate.

Happily we'd already sung the birthday song, done the candles, and made ourselves sick eating half of it. And we did save about a quarter. But it was no longer very photogenic.

It tasted delicious. Thanks for all the recipe advice.

Not on the topic of books.

2010-05-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

I am looking for a Red Velvet cake recipe. It is my daughter's birthday today and I want to bake a lactose-free Red Velvet cake that is NOT dry and icky. Last year the Red Velvet cake was a giant FAIL. It looked awesome but tasted bleh.

Why I Write

2010-05-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Rick Reed is hosting a series of authors blogging about 'Why I Write'. Today is my turn. Check it out here!

Maybe I should retire now?

2010-05-16T14:05:00.000-07:00

I mean after this letter from Val at Obsidian Bookshelf, which honestly moved me to tears, I feel almost like I have nothing more to achieve.

Except for this book sitting in front of me right now. I just have to finish this one and then I'll stop. Maybe.

Thank you, Val. I can't express how much it means to receive fanmail like this.

A review in which I become opinionated

2010-05-14T12:57:00.000-07:00

The Grand Sophy by Georgette Heyer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is generally listed as one of the best Georgette Heyer books and it is fantastic, if you love regency romance. I gave it four stars because of a couple of specific issues which I will mention below beneath the SPOILER stars.

Her stories and language bring an era to life which, according to my history books, existed very briefly before The War. The Grand Manor period, which seems to be nostalgically longed for by everyone but me.

I mean, ick. Snobbery and too much obsession with gossip and parties. The overwhelming infantilization of women. puke.

Once I had suspended my distaste for the reality, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. She is called the Queen of Regency Romance for good reason. Her characters are clever, sweet and destined for each other. The most sex you will find is a fierce kiss at the end, and I was surprised to discover that that was all I wanted. It is a good escape book and I flew through it in one afternoon when I was sick. Except for a couple of issues, I'd heartily recommend it. Those issues are spoilers, though, so beware and don't read below the stars...

***********************

SPOILERS

**********************

SPOILERS

***********************

SPOILERS

********************

1.) Terrifyingly anti-Semitic! I mean, horrible! Dear God, is it even legal to publish this stuff in the United States?

There are several occasions when an underage man who has been running about gambling (which was apparently OKAY back then) admits having touched bottom to the point of 'going to the Jews'. When we finally meet one of these, he is described as follows:

"...the door was slowly opened to reveal thin, swarthy individual, with long greasy curls, a semitic nose, and an ingratiating leer. He was dressed in a suit of rusty black, and nothing about him suggested sufficient affluence to lend as much as five hundred pence to anyone."

Revolting. You may say that this reflects the opinions of an era. Maybe you are right, in which case THANK GOD that era is dead.

2.) FIRST COUSINS MARRYING????? Huge gigantic squick. If I'd had any idea I would have never read the book. Blech blech, I'm still rinsing my brain out. Was this common back then? It was probably the obvious romantic connection, but I didn't see it because it is, to me, completely unacceptable. NO WONDER the era is over with. Inbreeding and prejudice and making women weak to the point that they can't care for their own sick children?

View all my reviews >>

Son of a Gun gets 4.5 stars at Literary Nymphs

2010-05-10T14:27:00.000-07:00

A very nice review at Literary Nymphs for "Son of a Gun". She gave it 4.5 nymphs. Pretty good for a romance that is all about the action adventure with the romance and heat as a side dish. (There IS heat, though. I saw a comment somewhere that an anonymous somebody had said there were no hot scenes in the book.)

its not a process its a crap shoot

2010-05-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Today, aside from an interesting trip to the 'Largest Thrift Shop in Los Angeles', I wrote. I have a first chapter that seems to be having problems and I decided to relentlessly bang away at it until I'd resolved whatever it is that is bothering me. End of the day and I've written 37 additional words and bought a Polo shirt that is remarkably ugly. And I still don't feel good about that first chapter.

sigh.

I played basketball in high school. It was girls intramural and I was not good. But it was girls intramural basketball and the poor coach probably felt that beggars couldn't be choosers and she tried to find a way to make me useful. My annoying slowness and irritating grin made me the perfect target for fouls, so she had me learn to shoot free throws. Hour and hours I'd stand on that free throw line during practice, finding the exact arc, the exact amount of pressure, the perfect lift and shove that would propel a ball reliably into the basket. I got pretty good. But still, it always was very satisfying and a little magical when the ball swished through the net.

When a sentence comes out just as you want it to. Or, better yet, when a chapter accomplishes exactly what you had hoped, it feels like that. There's practice, and theres the hours and hours of standing on the line, but there's also just a little bit of magic and luck to it.

Today I was 0 for 2 and I'm feeling pretty damned crabby.

I am Elisa's author this week at Inside Reader

2010-05-07T10:58:00.000-07:00

Elisa Rolle's blog features an author a week writing about his/her 'top ten' books. This week she asked me! I attempted to make a halfway decent list. Go check it out here and leave a comment.

Please support an author during a trying time.

2010-05-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

Jason Edding, a fellow MLR press author has just had a devastating blow. He has lost his long time partner and is feeling very much alone. Please go to his website here and show him some support. Thanks guys.