Pompeii No Way

 

I couldn’t stay away from the combination of disaster movie/sand and sandals epic, Pompeii, this weekend. I’ve had a soft spot for the events of August 24, A.D 79 ever since National Geographic published an article on Herculaneum in May 1984. Reading about the amazing discoveries there helped cement my determination to major in Anthropology a few years later. I didn’t study classics, or shift into physical anthropology, but I have maintained a dilettante’s interest in the subject of Vesuvius’s eruption ever since. So it was with a little more than a layman’s knowledge that I entered the theatre. Such was my undoing.

First, the story was so incredibly predictable and re-hashed, I couldn’t even watch the actors most of the time, I was so embarrassed for them. Hero orphaned by awful Romans, check. Hero turns into awesome fighter in the gladiatorial arena, check. Hero is a horse whisperer and impresses Heroine by breaking a horse’s neck, check. Wait, what? Okay, that whole scene made no sense. Heroine is daughter of a rich, influential man but is mysteriously attracted to a slave, check. Hero is set upon by fellow gladiators and grudgingly befriended by his rival, check. Villain is an alpha-hole to Heroine and also happens to be the bad guy who orphaned our Hero seventeen years prior, check. Oh, I can’t even go on any longer, it’s all so sadly unimaginative it makes me gnash my teeth. Even a cursory reading of a popular book on the subject of Pompeii would provide so many wonderful plots and ideas it’s almost as if the writers were forced at pen-point to use only tired clichés.

Second, the behaviors and attitudes of all the major characters were so wildly inappropriate it made me wince as I watched. The Heroine somehow has a distaste for the Roman aristocracy even though she’s the living embodiment of it. She also inexplicably rides off with the (slave) Hero after a minor earthquake even though there’s absolutely nowhere for them to go, and after about two minutes they give up and come back to the villa. At that point, I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Heroine announced she was vegan and wanted to make sure her carbon footprint was as small as possible. The Villain was relentless in his pursuit of this unappealing (by the standards of the day) young woman, even in the face of enormous projectiles of flaming magma exploding all around him. The Hero just glowered and hit people, which brings me to my next point.

Third. Lots. Of. Fighting. So many stabbing swords, thumped shields, wielded chains, swinging fists, and thrown spears I was sick of it after the first fifteen minutes even though I had to endure another hour of it. Why filmmakers default to gladiatorial characters when they make a Roman era movie is beyond me. We’ve seen death in the arena so many times it’s not interesting anymore. Why not write about the traders who brought in luxury goods from all over the empire? Or borrow an idea from Robert Harris’s great book, conveniently titled Pompeii, and make a film based on the amazing achievements of Rome’s hydraulic engineers?

The only reason I’m not upset I spent seven dollars on this thing was because the CGI folks did a great job. I loved all the panning shots of ancient Pompeii and the eruption of Vesuvius made me gasp out loud. There was some inaccuracy in how they portrayed the stages of the eruption, but a casual viewer would never pick up on it. A great book to check out in relation to how the eruption occurred and what happened hour by hour in Pompeii and Herculaneum is Charles Pellegrino’s Ghosts of Vesuvius.

If you are after visual thrills and chills of the toga sort, Pompeii should work for you. If you want to care about the characters before they are incinerated in a pyroclastic cloud, skip the movie and read one of the books I mentioned above.

Turn Ons and Turn Offs

I’ve been thinking about tropes and clichés in writing quite a bit lately, both because of interesting posts I’ve read and because I’m trying to refine my author ‘brand’ (oh how I hate that term). After three rejections of my latest manuscript, I feel like I’m either not hitting the mark or I’m really going off into the writing wilderness. To be clear, I know I’m not writing the 'auto-buy' norm in my genre, so let’s just go with the idea that I’m avoiding the commonplace and blazing my own path. There, that feels better than just being a failure.

I was browsing at the fabulous Worthington Public Library, http://www.worthingtonlibraries.org/  this afternoon and realized it doesn’t take me long to reject a book and about ten times as long to find one to check out. So I can somewhat understand editors evaluating submissions making the same split-second decisions, but I do believe it’s incumbent on these gatekeepers to not offer up the same old storylines and archetypes time after time because they are missing new markets of people like me who avoid them as soon as I read the back cover. So this one goes out to editors, agents, and publishers everywhere; Lynn Rae’s lists of fiction Turn Ons and Turn Offs, since I know they are so desperate for my business.

As soon as I see these words or phrases I put the book down:

-any title with ‘Duke’ in it

-vampires or were-anythings

-billionaires

-a protagonist younger than twenty-five

-‘hiding a secret’, 'scarred', or 'walled-off'

-any allusion to psychological problems that warrant therapy/pharmaceuticals, not the magic cure all of sex and/or tracking down a serial killer

-made-up names with lots of paired vowels, consonants, and apostrophes. Can’t pronounce them in my head and can’t keep track of the characters as I’m reading

-protagonists having a fabulous career in unbelievable ways; cupcake maker, corporate art consultant, self-employed international terrorism expert, cocktail designer. Just no.

-a child in peril

Now that I’ve revealed my curmudgeon tendencies, I’ll lighten the mood and list the terms and topics that make me pick up a book instantly

-natural history. Give me dinosaurs, giant squid, sharks, fungus, viruses, and the genetic modification of any or all and I’m on board

-protagonists with appropriate amounts of self-awareness and life skills

-accurate depictions of small town life

-natural disasters and pandemics (but not most zombie apocalypses because the science is nearly always bad)

-protagonists who make clothing, art, food, or gardens as hobbies

-books set in places I’ve been, if only for me to see if the author can communicate that setting to me

There. Looking this list over, I can see I hit the reject button on about seventy-five percent of popular fiction. Hmm…does that mean I’m too picky or does it mean there are a lot of similar books on those shelves?

My Fantasy

There it is...the repository of hopes and dreams...

No, not that kind of fantasy. I’m talking about daydreams here, the stuff that creeps into your head when you’re waiting at a red light and there’s nothing riveting on the radio to distract you from your thoughts.

Here’s one of mine and if you share one of yours in the comments, I might just send you a copy of my latest book, Return.

It’s no secret that I love to shop second-hand. I have ever since I was a kid, and the impulse only strengthened once I got my own car and could stop at any garage sale that caught my eye. So for nearly thirty years I’ve been hitting the mismatched racks and cluttered tables of thrifts. It’s hit or miss and always has been. Sometimes I lament the lack of cool vintage stuff that I found with ease years ago, but I’m really grateful for like-new kids clothes now, so the trade-offs seem worth it.

So, on to my fantasy.

I’m in a thrift store, medium-sized with good lighting and a clean floor (this is a fantasy, after all). I start going through the racks and nothing falls off the hangars as I pull and check labels. Nothing good, nothing good, until I hit a possible. Pull it out; a perfect pair of chinos, right size, no wear, quality manufacturer. The next hangar holds a great seersucker pair of trousers, and next is jeans I’m sure will fit just right.

I toss everything into the cart and keep going. The cart’s wheels all work properly and there’s no sticking or squeaking (see, I warned you it was a fantasy). Next is a red cashmere cardigan, then a couple of perfect white shirts, a black alpaca scarf, and at the end of the aisle, a narrow metal mesh belt, exactly what I’ve been in search of for the last year and a half.

The cart’s filling up and my heart is pounding. Should I keep looking or accept I’ve had the finds of a lifetime and head to the counter to pay up while my luck still holds? I’m not much of a gambler, so I make my way to the front only to be distracted by it; an English trench coat, just my size, zip-out lining still in place and nothing weird left in the pockets. Mine!

Now the fear hits me as I approach the display cases. Will I be able to find some cool piece of jewelry to cap off all my fabulous fashion? I peer through the glass at trays of plastic stretch bracelets and trashy necklaces from the state fair midway, sure I’ve used up my luck for the day. But no, I spy something, the edge of something enameled and gold-tone. I have to see it. Wonder of wonders, a staff person is actually there and ready to help and she pulls out what I ask to see with no trouble. Yes, it’s a vintage Trifari dragon necklace, bright green with angry red beaded eyes, without a scratch or sign of wear. It’s only five dollars and I immediately head into line, keeping my eye on the necklace as the clerk carries it to the person running the register.

Everything rings up correctly and I have enough money to pay (again, fantasy). I experience that thrill of discovery and possession that I imagine is hardwired in a hunter-gatherer’s psyche. Instead of finding the best berry patch or tender-fleshed mammoth, I’ve gotten some stylish clothes for ninety percent off retail. We modern human have to take our thrills where we can.

Next time, maybe I’ll tell you my food fantasy. Or maybe even one of those fantasies. Remember, leave a comment about your fantasy and your email for a chance to get a copy of my latest book.

Secret Cravings Blog Hop

 

Did you get a new tablet or e-reader for the holidays?

Looking to fill it with some great books?

Looking to romance away the winter blahs?

Then stop by all the great SCP authors blogs for a chance to win some great romance novels?

Go to EVERY SCP author link and find the letters to spell out Secret Cravings Publishing

Each author has been assigned a letter. Look for the snowflake with that author's letter and once you have spelled out the phrase, email your answers (match up the letter to the author*) to reviewcoordinator@secretcravingspublishing.com

*Some letters are used twice but that just means two authors have the same letter. You cannot use the same author for the same letter.

Aside from the individual authors' special prizes, SCP has some great prizes to offer too

Grand Prize- iPad 2

First Place- Kindle HDX

Second Place- $50 SCP gift certificate

Third Place- $25 SCP gift certificate

 

Head back to the main page here:

http://secretcravingspublishing.blogspot.com/



Winners will be notified by February 4, 2014

 

In addition to collecting your letters and reporting back to Secret Cravings for a chance at all those great prizes, leave a comment here for a chance to win my SCP book, Bent Boot Road

 

http://store.sweetcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=products_all&filter_author=151&zenid=37c462404371758fc8652a82d3f08a00

 

 



Lydia Back has problems; a dead end job cataloging artifacts no one wants to see, an office in a dusty basement storage room, and she’s just discovered that her friend is missing.  Adding to her frustrationis the arrival of a too-charming private investigator who needs her help.

Carter Harris has no problems; he has his own successful business and is enjoying a few days in a scenic southern Ohio town to gather information on a missing professor.  But his local contact turns out to be an uncooperative woman who prefers traipsing around in the forest to having a civilized conversation with him.

They begin to uncover the secrets that lurk under the surface of other people’s lives and also discover an inconvenient attraction.  When danger looms, both Carter and Lydia realize it will be impossible to survive without each other.

Listen, Santa

Christmas is almost upon us, and thanks to my son’s ever-expanding list of things he’s hoping will magically appear under the tree, free from the constraints of money, availability, or time, I’ve decided to make my own list of dream LEGO themes. Once the holidays are here and gifts are unwrapped, I know I’m going to be assisting in the construction of quite a few sets (thanks grandparents and Santa!) and my fingers will be sore until after New Year’s.

1.      Star Trek, first Classic, then TNG. Why hasn’t this licensing agreement happened yet? I want a rocky planet set complete with a green Gorn and a cute mommy Horta. Not so thrilled with the idea of a bridge, but I’d go for sick bay and engineering in a heartbeat. The mini figures would be so fun. Kirk would have several heads to cover all his facial expressions and imagine all the different forehead designs for Klingons over the years.

2.      Jurassic Park. Please! LEGO did the dinosaur hunters sets, but I want Muldoon and Ian Malcom mini figures. The park control room would be fun to build and there could be breakaway walls and windows for the velociraptor attacks. Cool functions, as my son says. Sadly, LEGO would have to include packets of fake blood for realism and that might upset the kids.

3.      The Walking Dead. Herschel’s farm, Dale’s camper, the prison, all would be fantastic constructs. Imagine a whole herd of walker mini figures, some missing their tiny little hands. Gruesome but fun. The special, limited edition set would feature Daryl, his crossbow, motorcycle, and his brother Merle with a modified slicer arm. Again, gruesome, but fun.

4.      Ice age. No, not the movies, but caves, fires, smilodons, wooly mammoths, and all sorts of cool stone tool accessories for fur clad figures. They could even create a frosty clear blue brick by the thousands to have a glacier set.

5.      A cruise ship. My son and I have discussed this one extensively. Pool deck, buffet, cabins, casino, engine room, bridge, elevators, all could be standalone sets eventually assembled into a whole ship.

While we’re at it, I think it would be incredibly fun to have some themed mystery figure series. For those of you unfamiliar, Lego puts out different groupings of individual mini figures in tiny bags. When you buy it, you have no idea what’s inside, which is part of the fun. I think it would be great to have a Star Wars series, classic 80’s television characters (Mr. T! Buck Rogers! Magnum P.I.!), or literary heroes.

I have a feeling I won’t be seeing any of these on the shelves in the future, but I can dream.

An Early Christmas Gift

Before the holiday season gets in full swing, I just wanted to let everyone know that I have a free read available on the Musa Publishing site. It's the prequel to my novel Return. Despite the beautiful Christmas cover, the story actually takes place in the spring, but since it's a free gift in December, it's appropriate.
So download it, read it, and if you want to find out what happens to Evelyn next, consider buying the rest of her and James Winchester's story.

http://musapublishing.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=17&products_id=700&zenid=2c8ae8f6bd429506951c7f17f389ad2f

Impending Failure

This is me.
Or at least this is the look I have in my eye as I face my impending NaNoWriMo failure. I've participated several times and always managed to meet the goal by the end of the month, but November 2013 has been my undoing. Too many days off from school for my son, too many other pulls on my time, so I will not reach 50,000 words by the end of the weekend. I'm at close to 40,000 and planned on it being about 60,000 by its conclusion.
Never fear, I am like the steady tortoise and will finish this manuscript mostly because it's pretty good already and I don't like to leave things undone for my characters. I've really enjoyed the research I've done for this book and have learned a lot about costume jewelry, the parts of a bar set up, and how to use ricotta cheese in ice cream.
It's good to fail every now and again. It teaches you perspective. And my perspective at this point is I'd rather be 10,000 words behind on a manuscript than be an angry-looking tortoise covered in some sticky brown substance. No wonder she looks outraged.

Let the Writing Begin!

So it's November third and I'm deep into my NaNoWriMo story. November is National Novel Writing Month and there's an online community devoted to encouraging writers to complete a 50,000 word first draft in one month. Now this timeline is problematic for me because of the holidays that fall in November (Veteran's Day, Thanksgiving, Daylight Savings time, etc.) which means my writing time is somewhat reduced. However, I have always met my word count every time I've participated even though my books tend to run about 20,000 words beyond the requirement.
How do I do this? There are all sorts of guides and tips out there for an aspiring NaNo writer, so I won't go into those. I usually have plenty of ideas for stories floating around in my mind, so once I've set on 'the one', I start a notebook and write out my backstory, plan scenes, and write questions out that I'll need to answer as the book progresses. That starts a month before I begin writing. I also do research on the internet and with the help of the Worthington Public Library system (vote yes on Issue 53 Tuesday!).
This time around, my idea was sparked by a submission call from a publisher. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm going to end up with a book I want to submit to anyone, or if I'd even submit it to this company, but I've been enjoying writing 'on spec' for the first time.
Anticipation builds and sometimes I can't resist making note of some runs of dialogue. It's a relief when November first arrives and I can begin. So far I'm at over 5,000 words and I'm happy with where things are going and how my characters are taking shape.
I'll post more later about the story, but first I'm going to list a few of the research topics I've explored and see if anyone can guess what I'm writing about.
1. Top Chef Canada auditions on YouTube
2. Hattie Carnegie costume jewelry
3. knives
4. Daytimers

What I'm watching

Fall television season is here and I've been DVRing a lot of shows I haven't bothered to watch yet. Part of the reason is lack of time, and part is because our television is slowly dying and everyone on the screen is turning green so it's hard to concentrate. In any case, a couple of shows have managed to interest me enough to endure watching while every one in the cast look like moldy cheese while I stay up past my bedtime.
One is Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC

I'm not particularly a fan of the original source material, or Joss Whedon (gasp, horror, how is that possible? Main reason; annoying quips). But I did enjoy the Avengers movie last summer and thought I'd give this a try. Plus, I find Clark Gregg to be adorable so that's incentive enough. So far, the two episodes I've seen have entertained me. Like most of the commentary I've read, some of the characters are clunky and too predictably pretty, but they've intrigued me enough with cool gadgetry and Melinda May that I'll keep watching.  Plus, I want to find out why Tahiti is a magical place.

The other new show I've taken a shine to is Sleepy Hollow on Fox. Normally I'm not much for horror/paranormal shows. They usually require too much suspension of disbelief for me to enjoy (please, once and for all, vampires are no more sexy than leeches. Think about it!). I have to admit, the writing and acting on Sleepy Hollow has won me over. The characters are smart, skeptical, and behave as reasonably as one could hope when you find yourself confronting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Love the chemistry between these two and hey, Orlando Jones, John Cho, and Clancy Brown? For those three I'd watch! But I have to be honest, Tom Mison is the big surprise for me. Sure, he's very good looking, but the guy can deliver a funny line like no-one's business.

Plus he gets to play scruffy, courteous, and intelligent which are all big yes votes for me when it comes to male leads.
So there, a couple of shows I recommend only two episodes in, so take it with a grain of salt. They might fizzle out next week, but I have a feeling they'll get better.

And the usual disclaimer, I have no rights on these images, I borrowed them from the 'official' sources so if anyone cares to protest, I will of course remove.

My First...

Cyberlaunch!
Yes, today, the very auspicious Friday the thirteenth is my first ever cyberlaunch. Author Island is promoting my first book, Bent Boot Road in a couple of venues;
http://cyberlaunchparty.blogspot.com/

and on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/events/161280757403540/

Come visit, make a comment for a chance at a copy of the book or a stressball and help introduce me to the world of publishing promotion.

 

Elysium for Everyone

 

Who needs a laser when you've got a big sword and psychosis?

I managed to get away from the house and see a movie with bad words, violence, no humor, and big ideas this weekend. If you couldn’t guess from the title of my post, that movie was Elysium and I was blown away. I needed at least twenty-four hours to settle after watching before I could put together a semi-coherent blog post.

First off, the visual effects were great. I was so drawn into those worlds, so taken with the contrast between the dusty, crowded, falling-apart Earth and the spectacularly clean and wholesome Elysium I had to remind myself to breathe. Amazing work with production design and set decoration. I was so impressed I looked up the ‘visual futurist’, Syd Mead, who designed some of the sets and once I did, I realized why his work appealed to me so much. It’s because he was also a designer on two of my favorite films; Blade Runner and Aliens. Those happen to be two of Neill Blomkamp’s favorite films as well so it’s no wonder I felt so comfortable stepping into his Elysium. It reminded me of how I try to make my Sci-fi stories equally gritty and every day. Doors that don’t work right, dirt, worn-away finishes, piles of trash, all help make a world of the future more appealing to me.

The story was the typical hero quest with some ‘crushed by corporate inhumanity’ thrown in, but that’s a trope I can get behind. As far as acting goes, one person hit it out of the park; Sharlto Copley. Wow. I thought he was impressive in District 9 but in this film, he’s amazing. He plays a simply awful character so well I couldn’t look away. Normally, I’m ready for the villain to bite it about halfway through a film because their uberevil machinations bore me, but I wanted Kruger to last until the final scene because he was so terribly magnificent. It was a strange sensation to sit in a dark theatre and be simultaneously attracted and repelled by him. So Mr. Copley, I’m sorry to say, you will probably end up as a placeholder in an upcoming book of mine. Maybe a hero, maybe a bad guy or more likely both. Oh, and Faran Tahir was also in it and I always like to see him.

If you’re a fan of hand to hand fighting, this is your movie; swords, knives, blood spatter everywhere along with some really fabulous weapons that stick on and blow up. People were incinerated, radiated, decapitated, drawn and quartered, turned to flesh-mist, you name it. (Oh, flesh-mist, I like the sound of that. I called it!) I might be betraying my high tolerance for medical gore here, but the reconstruction of fifty percent of Kruger’s head was one of my favorite parts of the entire film. In fact, I could have watched that process for at least fifteen minutes.

Now I have a new facet to one of my fantasies. If one of my sci-fi stories is ever optioned, I want Neill Blomkamp to direct it. That is all.

Heeere's.....Kruger!

 

 

As always, I don't own the rights to these images, if you object to their presence, I will of course remove them.

It's A Week Away!

Next Friday is the release for my second book, Return. It’s a sweet contemporary romance with an older hero and heroine facing a lot of family history. Here’s the blurb:

‘James Winchester is content with his predictable small town life. He lives alone, helps out at his family farm, and doesn’t miss an ice cream social. His life is so neat and ordered he could use one of his accounting spreadsheets to chart his upcoming years.

Evelyn Prentiss’s world is in chaos. She’s returned to her home town twenty years after leaving and the transition isn’t as smooth as she’d anticipated. Her home needs renovated, her parents are once again too hands-on, and she only has the summer months to settle in before she starts her new teaching job.

In an effort to be a good neighbor, James finds himself stopping by Evelyn’s house more and more to help with her endless to-do list. When a mystery from their past resurfaces and opens old wounds, the two find comfort in each other. And so much more.’

Sound good? I hope so. I had a lot of fun writing this book and getting to know these two main characters. If you read it, you’ll learn about steer shows, lilacs, glass plate negatives, ice cream socials, and even more.

I also want to say a big thanks to Musa Publishing for saying yes to my manuscript and for giving me such a great cover.

Welcome Secret Cravings Publishing Blog Hoppers

Greetings visitors from the Secret Cravings Blog Hop. I hope you are having a great time visiting all the author blogs and you are discovering new books to try.
My book, Bent Boot Road, is a sweet contemporary about a young woman with a chip on her shoulder and the patient man who falls for her while they search for her missing friend. Their adventure takes place a small college town, the urban environment of Columbus, Ohio, and the forests of southeastern part of the state. These three locations make me wonder, are you a country, small-town, or city person?  Make a comment below for a chance to receive an e-copy of Bent Boot Road.
In case you get lost on the way, here's a link to Secret Cravings  http://secretcravingspublishing.blogspot.com/

Let Them Bake Cake

In my upcoming book, Return, Evelyn Prentiss bakes a chocolate cake. There are a lot of reasons why she does this. The main one is she’s trying to get on the good side of someone she hopes will develop some glass plate negatives she bought at auction. She’s a good baker but has something prove after coming in second in the 4-H competition twenty years before.

While I was writing that scene, all I could think about was how many times I’d made the following classic recipe. I found it in a magazine when I was in high school and it’s always turned out well. Without further ado, Evelyn’s favorite chocolate cake.

Hershey’s Disappearing Cake

1/4 cup butter  

1/4 cup shortening  

2  cups sugar  

1  teaspoon vanilla  

2   eggs  

3/4 cup  cocoa  

1 3/4 cups flour  

3/4 teaspoon baking powder  

3/4 teaspoon baking soda  

1/8 teaspoon salt  

1 3/4 cups milk

 

 

Directions:

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease and flour 2-9 inch round or 13x9 cake pan. Cream butter and shortening, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Blend in eggs. Combine cocoa, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in bowl and sift to mix well.

 

2.      Add milk and flour mixture alternately to batter. Blend well and pour into pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until cake tests done. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans if using round pans. Frost with your favorite frosting.

My suggestion is to bake the cake on September 5, 2013 and share it with your family but save a slice. On September 6, go online and buy my book Return from Musa Publishing and give yourself a double treat of chocolate and romance.

http://www.musapublishing.com/

Welcome Sweet Cravings Blog Hoppers!

I hope you are enjoying hopping from one Sweet Cravings Publishing author site to the next. To celebrate our hop, I'd love to give away a copy of my book, Bent Boot Road. It's about a woman who works in a museum basement until a private investigator drops in and needs her help locating a missing professor. Since the missing man teaches archaeology, I'd like to select the winner from anyone who comments below and mentions their favorite movie that includes either a private investigator, a museum basement, or an archaeological site. Bonus points if you can think of one that includes all three.
Good luck, I'll announce the winner on Monday!

And Here's the Cover!

Isn't it gorgeous?
Musa Publishing will have it ready for purchase on September 9, 2013. As long I as I get the dedication and acknowledgement written in the next few days...
Here's the back cover blurb;

James Winchester is content with his predictable small town life. He lives alone, helps out at his family farm, and doesn’t miss an ice cream social. His life is so neat and ordered he could use one of his accounting spreadsheets to chart his upcoming years.

Evelyn Prentiss’s world is in chaos. She’s returned to her home town twenty years after leaving and the transition isn’t as smooth as she’d anticipated. Her home needs renovated, her parents are once again too hands-on, and she only has the summer months to settle in before she starts her new teaching job.

In an effort to be a good neighbor, James finds himself stopping by Evelyn’s house more and more to help with her endless to-do list. When a mystery from their past resurfaces and opens old wounds, the two find comfort in each other. And so much more.

Aww, I just love them!
Next blog post will be an excerpt...I think I have that selected already...

Sweet Saturday Samples

Hello and welcome all visitors from the Sweet Saturdays Sample blog. I’d like to share a PG-13 excerpt from my first novel, Bent Boot Road. It’s available on Amazon, B&N, ARe, and from the publisher’s website, Sweet Cravings Publishing.

The next morning, Carter placed a call to the local detective and discovered that there was nothing new to report. He was not surprised but he was pleased that the detective didn’t seem to have any objections to him continuing his independent inquiry. It saved the detective the trouble of doing some work himself. Carter didn’t care, he was feeling like they were getting close. And thinking of they, he began to consider Back again. Not that he’d really stopped thinking about her since he’d met her two days ago. He wasn’t sure what was going on in his subconscious. Get real, of course he knew what was going on, but she was fascinating him more and more. Her mind worked in mysterious ways and ever since she’d run her fingers through his hair he was desperate for her to touch him again. He kept bringing her back to his room, hoping that she would jump him. It hadn’t worked yet. Maybe if he fed her some more, something sticky that would require some licking of fingers she’d be overcome with lust and make a move.

Why was he being so pathetic? He was fully capable of seducing a woman, why was Lydia Back intimidating him? Carter shook his head and in an ironic effort to stop thinking about her, called her house from memory. When she answered, voice blurred and sleepy, his throat closed for a moment and he castigated himself for being such a fool.

“Back, you ready to go?”

“Who is this?”

“Carter Harris. Were you expecting someone else?”

“I’m always expecting something other than what I get. Eternal disappointment is my lot in life.” She sounded as dour as a heavily laden camel in the desert. She was such an Eeyore.

“Sorry to keep the streak alive Back, but we have work to do.”

“Frickity frack, is it really 8:45?” she croaked and he heard her shifting around. Visions of arms and legs tangled in rumpled sheets filled his brain. The ultra male part of his brain chanted “sleep with me sleep with me”, but that part of his brain was of no use while working. In fact, that part of his brain hadn’t been out to play in a long time.

 “Heavens to Betsy I slept late. You are wearing me out, Harris.” She sighed and he wanted to ask her to start talking dirty.

“I have some good ideas for today. Let’s have some breakfast and make plans.” Syrup was sticky, so waffles or pancakes could work. And then there was whipped cream….

“Gotta shower or something first. I’ll meet you somewhere in a half an hour.” Then she groaned and he lost track of the conversation for a moment as her moan vibrated somewhere deep in his ear. Focus, focus, focus, he ordered himself.

“It only takes you a half an hour to get ready?”

“Yeah Harris, a half an hour. It’s not that complicated to wash off and cover myself with clothes. What kind of women do you hang out with?”

Don’t answer that, the more civilized part of his brain interjected. “The kind of women who like to ride in cars and not hike everywhere like a Sherpa.”

“Ah, passive and squashy.” She sniped back and he grinned. He was going to miss her caustic wit when he returned to Columbus.

“Can you really be here in half an hour?” And no, he was not going to order room service despite great, overriding, massive temptation. They would eat in the restaurant like normal people.

“Yep, if you let me get off the line sometime this week.”

“Done, meet me in the restaurant.” A dial tone was her farewell and Carter decided to contemplate his depleted wardrobe. If he had to stay here much longer he’d need to go shopping. He could only imagine the look of dismay on Lydia’s face if he told her that. So far she wasn’t very impressed with his style, so it was unlikely that any of his current clothing would prompt her to fling herself at him in a state of uncontrolled arousal. What apparel did she like? Flannel shirts and ripped jeans? Baggy corduroys and tweed jackets with elbow patches? Maybe she was turned on by pipe-smoking. It was too horrible to contemplate.

 

I hope you enjoyed a little bit of Carter and Lydia’s story. Would you like to read more? Here are the buy links;

http://store.sweetcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=4&products_id=135&zenid=5538615d36a9122695a8a6d4c00d12d6

http://www.amazon.com/Bent-Boot-Road-ebook/dp/B00BOSI0DG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363545231&sr=1-1&keywords=bent+boot+road

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bent-boot-road-lynn-rae/1114761395?ean=2940016235455

https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-bentbootroad-1098105-148.html

Whew, I'm tired

 

This is how I feel every time I try to get my son dressed in the morning

 



Yep, I went to see Pacific Rim today and I am exhausted. I've never jumped, flinched, or gasped more in a movie. So yeah, it's pretty good.
I love monster movies because they combine my interests in special effects and disaster scenarios in one efficient package. Pacific Rim delivered both wonderfully. The CGI was the highest quality I've seen to date and the designers did some really unique things, like having debris floating around in the underwater fight scenes. I really appreciate details like that. Despite a lot of the scenes occurring at night/in the rain as is typical with these sorts of films, it was easy to see what I was looking at. They kept the contrast at a level that worked for me. The only time I squinted was when I wasn't sure if I wanted to actually see what was going on up there. The sound was mixed really well too, I didn't feel audio assaulted like I often do in an action movie.

Knife head kaiju lookin' for some fiber



The world-building was good too. Of course it needed to be since these monsters were going to tear it all up. Ha Ha. As a science fan, nothing throws me out of enjoying a movie more than when basic logic is ignored by a filmmaker. Pacific Rim didn't have any glaring problems once you accepted the idea that there was some sort of time-space crevasse in the bottom of the ocean. I'm willing to do that for a monster movie. The contrast between a digital jeager and an analog jeager was a little problematic for me, but it was a necessary plot device so I'm going to let it slide. I would have let a lot more slide because the monsters were superb; cool attributes, realistic movements, and diabolically malevolent. I loves me some monsters.

 

Hmmmmmm....what was I writing?

Here are my two criticisms. The movie needed more Idris Elba. Please? Pretty please? I could have watched him command people to clean commodes for two hours straight and been perfectly happy, but some other stuff happened too. Like giant monsters with acid vomit or electromagnetic pulse burps. But more Idris Elba would have made Pacific Rim even better. Last criticism; no sequel possible. Darn it.

Franklin Park Conservatory

Earlier this month we made a trip to the Franklin Park Conservatory. It was my son's birthday request, which surprised me considering all the more noisy and commercialized entertainments he could have chosen. Maybe he loves the place for the same reasons I do; peaceful environment, waterfalls, butterflies, an abundance of nature. In any case, here are a few photos I took on this latest visit.

A bald cypress bonsai dating from 1843

 

Buckeye butterflies on a bird of paradise bloom

 

 

Gingko bonsai

 

Golden Helicon on lantana

Common Sergeant

Raffle Madness

A sampling of lovely raffle baskets

I have returned from my first-ever Reader Author Get Together. It’s Tuesday as I write this and only today have I felt like myself. It was an overwhelming experience that I’ll soon discuss with another post but first I want to talk about a wonderful part of it; the Raffle.

Every year, authors, readers, publishers, you name it, donate gifts to a raffle at this event. This year, there were over 250 items donated and they raised more than 13,000 dollars for a charity, One Way Farm Children’s Home, www.OneWayFarm.org.

Since I only have one book out at this time, and my second isn’t going to be available until fall, I spent some time trying to come up with something interesting. Since I don’t shop at Bath and Body Works, a basket of spa items was out, so I decided to offer up the chance to name a character in my next published book. I thought it would be a fun prize for someone and I would enjoy sharing the experience of submitting, editing, designing cover art, and finally release day with an interested person.

My prize was drawn in the final round Saturday night. I stuck around despite being very tired and was excited to meet the winner, Joyce Boyd (Hi Joyce!). Joyce and I are going to work through this process together and I’ll be sure to post updates as they occur.

Here’s the first one; I met with two editors at RAGT, both requested full manuscripts, and I have sent those and synopses out as of today. Whew! It’s stressful to prep a submission because you want to re-read the whole manuscript for the umpteenth time, you second guess yourself and your story, and when the panic really hits, you try to think of reasons NOT to send the thing to anyone because you fear rejection. But I have overcome all those obstacles, hit the send button twice, and plan to celebrate tomorrow with a nice lunch out. Then it will be weeks of waiting and checking my email constantly and when I do get a message, being afraid to open it because of the aforementioned fear of rejection.

Oh, in case you are wondering, I didn’t win anything. I never win anything.

my raffle prize...kinda cute