RealityBypass

Everyone has great suggestions about just /how/ you know you’re finally an adult. It’s everything from “buying a house” to “buying a car” to… “graduating from college”. I’ve heard “entering college” however, as a college Professor I tend to have my doubts on the adultness of a good deal of the coeds. My friends and siblings are married, getting married or even planning children… which makes you wonder, is that when you know you’re an adult?

However… I know the perfect “adult” test…

Wait for it….

It’s when you /really/ start craving the Oreck *Really Awesome* vacuums on tv! I saw this ad for the Orex XL Platinum in an ad on tv and I want one! I really want one! It would help me get those pesky kitty-litter sand tracks out of the carpet once and for all. I think I like it better than the Dysons. (Though they have the best commercials).

But yes, I think craving vacuums is a sign of being an adult. Add that to the fond fantasy I had after that of  a completely sand free house, with carpets where you can see the rug just perking up as you pass the vacuum. (If you  know what I mean, guess what, you’re an adult!) Heaven… (Or latent Monk-ish insanity. Hah!)

~Kris

Okay this is a really short blog, I had a long day at work. However… happy thoughts are being requested! Jana reworked our query letter for Whispers, making it sound a lot more like the tone of the novel itself and it’s making its round to agents.

But… what’s pretty interesting is that we’ve had 4 rejections so far, however only 2 were form letters! (This is tre-cool! In the realm of Rejections, getting anything in addition to the form letter is positive.) We got personal notes back on the latter two queries (both pre and post New-Query). So far we were told “Interesting” and “It has merit” but that it wasn’t right at this time, or similar. I take this as a good sign.

Yay.

Edits go forth too… I can’t believe how many words we’ve cut. We’re over-writers and cutters, not underwriters and adders it seems.

Okay spaz-off.

~Kristen

Heya folks,

It’s time for another Wednesday Book Review. I have late-night work now, so my reviews and postings will probably start showing up nearer the end of the day than earlier, but never fear, I shall keep up with the schedule! Anyway I’ll leave Jana to doing a review for Del Franco, I haven’t read book two fully yet. Anyway today’s feature is Marta Acosta and Happy Hour at Casa Dracula.

    I read this book a couple weeks ago and I liked it, although it wasn’t at the top of my Vampire Novels list. I’m a Fangs and Supernatural Undead Purist, IE I like my classic vampires and classic vampire tales. This one is closer to the idea of scientific-vampire origins, with a touch of the Mexican Chupacabra legend thrown in. Acosta’s vampires have a disease and are not that different from humanity (thus far in the series), other than super healing and the need for a little more sunscreen during the day time. It reminds me a lot of Porphyria, but with a few twists. I found the romance/attraction between Milagro and Oswald hard to get and the villian was Super Evil, not much redeeming in him to add a layer of gray to the novel. It was an engaging read, the protagonist is spunky, but she has both insecurities, the lack of a perfect figure, and the real-world Sex-in-the-City wit to differentiate her from the Kick Butt heroines common in the genre. The entire feel of the book is tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at the formulaic aspects of the usual Urban Fantasy novel.  It also takes a stab at the realm of “Canon” literature, making its ‘Villian’ a member of the celebrated literary elite and the protagonist a struggling author of Zombie Fiction. I’m not sure I actually “like” Milagro, she came across a little “trashy” to me, and some of the characters were more caricacture, but the book has merit with its unique Chicana twist on the vampire legend.

Rating:
    Genre:  Urban Fantasy
    Age: Adult
    Content: Sexual content, language
    Overall:  Buy or Borrow

Hip, smart Milagro de Los Santos is minding her own business at a book party for Sebastian, the ex-boyfriend she’s not quite over, when Oswald, a mysterious, handsome stranger approaches her. The chemistry between them is potent, but after they accidentally exchange blood during a powerful kiss, Milagro finds herself feeling strange. Suddenly Sebastian becomes interested in her again, though when he tries to abduct her it’s clear he’s more interested in her encounter with Oswald than in rekindling their romance. She’s rescued by Oswald’s cousin, Gabriel, who spirits her off to the family home, where Oswald, his prickly grandmother, Edna, and his other cousin, Sam, take her in for her protection. Although they are vampires, they insist on referring to their state as a “condition,” and now they’re worried Milagro might also be infected. Sebastian is part of a sinister group determined to investigate the vampires, and Milagro is realizing that her passion for the seductive Oswald is conquering her feelings for Sebastian. A fun, snappy read for romantic fantasy fans.

Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Yeah…it’s a list blog kind of day.  Sue me.  :)

Cool things:

1 - The temperature.  There is a heater war going on in the office.  Several of the men in the office prefer the temperature to be somewhere around arctic tundra, but for those of us with slightly less padding, or just lower tolerance, such temperatures mean freezing our lovely backsides off.  I wear a coat ALL the time.  So now every time I walk past the heater I bump it up.  They bump it down.  Yes, boys and girls, we are 12.  Hah.

2 - The release of Unfallen Dead today.  Mark Del Franco is the author and the series is very cool.  We’ve featured some of his books here before and I wouldn’t be overly surprised to see one up tomorrow.  I’m getting my copy today, you should get yours. 

3 - Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book won the Newberry.  How cool is that?  A book all about ghosts and a little boy living in a graveyard.  I’ve read the first three chapters of mine and will hopefully be able to finish it up soon!

4 - Cool podcasts:  Writing Excuses with Brandon Sanderson and crew and  and Dear Bitches, Smart Author with Angela James (editor of Samhain publishing) as a guest.

5 - I’m eating at a Brazilian grill tonight.  I love these places.  I don’t go very often as my waistline and my pocketbook couldn’t take it, but a cousin is visiting so we’re going.

What are your cool things today?

Jana

Recently I was reading over at the Nelson Agency blog, yes you’ve seen that blog linked here before, and there was a post talking about some of the things being looked for in the current market.  One which caught me by surprise was a need for more middle grade books with strong female heroines.  Because I read a lot of urban fantasy, which is rife with the kick butt female stereotype, I felt like there were lots of great female leads out there.  Then I got thinking about it.  It seems like the strong female tends to be more a young adult and up feature.  I could come up with a lot of books and series with strong male protagonists for this age group (Harry Potter, Eragon, Artemis Fowl, FireClaw, Will)  but not so many girls.  Part of this may be that the middle grade readers in my life are mostly boys, but looking through Amazon and the specific mention in the Nelson blog makes me wonder why this demographic gets skipped this way.

Does girl power only start in high school?  Isn’t there a need for confident, strong, females in those early ‘tween years?  Or are they only represented by Kim Possible and Hannah Montana?

As the auntie of several girls I find it disturbing to think that there aren’t strong female leads for them to identify with while still dealing with plots and situations which are appropriate to their mindsets and age.  So what am I missing?  Are there great series out there which have escaped my notice?  Or is this truly a void waiting for it’s very own female Harry?

Inquiring minds want to know…or maybe it’s time to dust off some middle grade ideas…

~Jana

Today I was pondering publishing and the explosion of online downloads of movies, books and other things. One of my classes from last semester was about local-literature, IE Chronicles and reports about what’s going on in our own backyard. One of the scholars commented how blogging has allowed new voices to be heard without the standard medium of Editor-Agent-Publisher and suchlike. Local information, poetry and other very personal writing is being opened up to an online and world wide medium, for free of course. So it starts to make you wonder if blog-novels are going to be more widespread in the future. Will people start seeking the free entertainment on the web instead of purchasing through a book store? Will the reading public trust unedited authors, or do we prefer to read what has survived the harrowing process of publication.

Anyway… just some musing. After all newspapers used to do well with serial novels, so why not the blogs?

~Kristen

When it comes to books about writing I find myself something of a skeptic.  So many of them are full of trite information which we’ve all seen before and stuff which doesn’t really help.  So I’m careful about which ones I embrace and let soak into my somewhat battered psyche.  This Christmas I received two of the writing books on my wish list (Thanks Coyote!) and have been pouring through both and found them very helpful.  So today I’m going to feature The 38 Most Common Fiction Writing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) by Jack M. Bickham.

What do I like about this book, you ask?  Well…it’s honest.  It offers encouragement without offering false or misplaced encouragement and the wit is dry and amusing.  As an example just consider some of the chapter headings, which also happen to be the mistakes in question:

Don’t Write about Wimps
Don’t Duck Trouble
Don’t Lecture Your Reader
Don’t Drop Alligators Through the Transom
Don’t Worry What Mother Will Think
Don’t Just Sit There

Every chapter is a don’t, but in the meat of the chapter he briefly explains why and how to avoid the don’t.  The book is short and easy to take in chunks, then there’s lots of time to ponder how to apply what you’ve learned.  Definitely a good book for any would be author…or prolly some published folk too, truth told…to keep at hand.

As promised I wanted to talk about a few of the upcoming books I’m interested in. Topping my list is Jim Butcher’s Turn Coat, the latest of the Harry Dresden novels. For those who don’t know about Harry Dresden, he’s a wise cracking Private Eye slash Wizard who works in Chicago. I love reading about my family’s home town, and seeing where the characters go. Anton Strout’s Deader Still, with another set of adventures from the psychic Private Eye Simon Canderous is next on the list. Simon has an “everyman” sort of niceness that really is great to see in an Urban Fantasy. Unlike other protagonists he has just a little bit of power that often is more trouble than help, and he works in a wondefully tongue in cheek world of bureaucracy and paperwork. Unfallen Dead is the third in the Connor Grey, druid series. He’s another Private Eye (are we sensing a theme in my reading?), but he’s a man who used to be one of the High and Mighty and is now having to see the world from more humble eyes. I really enjoy watching his journey of rediscovering his powers and his place in the world. Oh, and there’s nifty gargoyles in his series and unusual faeries. This is a grittier world than Strout’s, but well worth the read. Finally I’m dying to read George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. I’ve followed his gigantic epic series since the first novel A Game of Thrones and am absolutely hooked. There’s political intrigue, very true-to-life medieval settings, a touch of magic and a lot of love, betrayal and war. The books are not for the light hearted, Martin pulls no punches with the descriptions of the harshness of Medieval life, but… they’re an addictive saga that keeps you turning pages.

Check all of these out on Amazon.com.

~Kristen

So today is MLK day.  Technically a holiday but it’s one of those weird ones for me.  It’s not that I don’t appreciate the significance, I get it and I appreciate it, but it’s one of those holidays that falls somewhere between here and there.  Some people get it off work (mostly banks).  Some people don’t (me).  This lead me to pondering what really makes a holiday.  If it’s a matter of how you think about the events which prompted the holiday or a matter of what you get out of it…  Currently I’m thinking there is some of both in there.  However the jury is still out and I’m still pondering while puttering about in my little cubical.  I do think it’s interesting with this holiday falling right before the new president takes the oath of office, but that’s a pondering for another time.

In the realm the very cool there is a new blog for lovers of UF which I want to direct folks to.  The Deadline Dames is written by a nine member team of authors who are producing some of the hottest and most fun UF currently hitting the market.  The list includes:

Toni Andrews
Rinda Elliott
Lilith SaintCrow
Keri Arthur
Karen Mahoney
Jenna Black
Jackie Kessler
Devon Monk
Rachel Vincent

Talk about a line up of ladies to be respected.  :)

Go over and read.  There’s even prizes.

This I command!

Well…this I humbly suggest.  

~Jana