Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Another Plagiarism Accusation

Why do people who would NEVER steal merchandize like clothing or food, steal other people's words and don't consider it a crime? Stealing is stealing, right? Do we need some fines and/or jail time for plagiarism before people will start taking it seriously??

Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews

July 29, 2014

There are a few authors I will buy anytime, anywhere. I don't wait for the price to drop; I don't care what it costs. I WANT THAT BOOK!

Top of the list is Ilona Andrews and their latest book, Magic Breaks, was released early this morning.


It will take me a couple of days to write this review because, given my memory, I'm doing it as I read. And then there'll be a BIG CONCLUSION that will blow everyone's socks off and hopefully cause them to run right out (or to your local online bookstore) and get this book.
 'Cause I can tell you, without having read yet, that it's damn good.

First thing I noticed was Barabas' Journal. I've always liked Barabas; he's a weremongoose and I don't even laugh when I say that anymore. This is a neat way to bring newbies up to date on the series, at least the very first entry is. I don't know yet what, if any, other entries there might be. Barabas is a funny guy who feels these historic times  he's living through should be documented for posterity. Assuming there's any posterity left when the big fight is over.

Okay, I've screwed up the lines again, the paragraph order. One reason I don't write so much on this blog. Cause I can't fix it!! I break it and I can't fix it! So just pretend that paragraph up there is a poem, cleverly formated, as poems often are.

July 30, 2014

Stayed up until 1:00 finishing this book and all I can say is WOW! This is one heck of a twisty book.

This is not the book you think it is/should be. So many twists and turns. There is closure of a sort at the end but not the one people probably thought was coming. In such a wacked out fantasy world, this closure made sense, was logical.

Okay, the blurb (as if you haven't already read  it all over the internet, lol):


No matter how much the paranormal politics of Atlanta change, one thing always remains the same: if there’s trouble, Kate Daniels will be in the middle of it…

As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers. Since Kate’s connection to Roland has come out into the open, no one is safe—especially those closest to Kate.

As Roland’s long shadow looms ever nearer, Kate is called to attend the Conclave, a gathering of the leaders from the various supernatural factions in Atlanta. When one of the Masters of the Dead is found murdered there, apparently at the hands of a shapeshifter, Kate is given only twenty-four hours to hunt down the killer. And this time, if she fails, she’ll find herself embroiled in a war which could destroy everything she holds dear…


Not being quite honest, that blurb. Oh, A Master of the Dead is murdered at the beginning of the book, but not at the Conclave and the way the corpse is delivered ... well, let's just say I HATE Hugh. The bassard! I really, really hate villains that think they're witty and undefeatable (spell check says this isn't a word, but I'm using it anyway because it meets my needs) as Hugh does, but as Kate says later in the book, all his powers come from Roland. He's a big nothing without Roland and the stuff Roland's given him. I think anyone who liked/loved Hugh in the last book, Magic Rises (and there were many) will have their minds changed in this book.

Roland's power is off the scales, too much power for one person and he's completely different from what I was expecting.

One thing I've always loved about these books is Kate and Curran's relationship. By this book, book 7, they are pretty much settled into each other and have no hesitation saying "I love you". But Curran is absent for much of the book and that's when all hell breaks loose, thanks to Hugh D'Ambray and Kate has to fight him alone except for certain pack members who were strictly volunteers.

And this is a first for these books, I had tears in my eyes at one point. Very poignant writing. Kate was in extreme danger, on the verge of death, in fact, and her inner thoughts of Curran ... oh my God! She had complete faith in him, never for a minute thought he'd abandon her and of course he didn't.

We finally meet Roland, definitely NOT a pleasure. He puts Hugh in the shade. Hell, he puts everyone in the shade. But Kate doesn't fear him. She doesn't fear dying at his hand. Her only fear is failing to protect the people she loves and even the ones she doesn't. She wants to hold Atlanta in her arms and make the bogyman go away. To see if she succeeds, you'll have to read the book, if only for the twisty ending.

But no matter how this ending looks to you, the reader, let me assure you that there are 3 more books to come. So the ending with the twist is just that, an ending for this particular book. I can't wait for the next one; I'm so greedy.

I'm going to end this rambling wreck of a post/review by saying there is also a short story in this book, called Magic Tests, a story about Julie, Kate's ward. Also to say, this is the best book of this seven book series (so far). The series isn't getting stale - far from it. It just keeps growing and getting better.

There's a lot of untold stories in this world. I hope there's room for them in the Andrews' schedule, even non-Kate stories. Because it's the writing.

It's always the writing.

I'll read anything they write, and have. They're going at full blast, but I still want more. I'm such a bitch that way.


PS: forgot the big CONCLUSION. Please forgive me. It's early here, or was when I started this and what you see is what you get.  ;-)

Hey!

Nalini Singh has announced an UNEXPECTED new book coming out in September. Ah, the wonders of Facebook....

A contemporary, y'all! About a rock god with PIERCINGS!  o.O

Proof of Piercings

Someone please remind me when September gets here; I can't pre-order because I believe it's self published and pre-ordering is a self publishing no-no. Plus, my memory is shot and I'd appreciate the help.

A contemporary. My, my, my. Hey, maybe she'll write an unexpected MC book next! Now, thats a Oh Myyy!

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Sales. Or Say What?

So we all hear about the self-pubbed or e-pubbed sensation who writes a book and it sells a million copies and then gets made into a movies and well, shit. You know the story.

That's not most of us.

I don't know the sales numbers for most authors but I'm willing to bet my experiences are closer to the norm that not. And let me tell you, I don't sell a lot. And by that I mean, if I sell more than 5 copies of anything in a month it's cause for celebration.

Imagine the surprise to see Letters From Greece selling this month. Not in the hundreds but about 15 copies so far. (Well, exactly 15 copies as of this moment.) I don't know why it's selling or how anyone knows about it but it's an awesome feeling to see the sales.

It isn't the money since the money isn't that much. But altogether this month about 25 of my titles have sold and that means 25 people are choosing to read what I wrote. 25 strangers choosing to give my words a try.

It's a rush.

We probably all fantasize about writing a 50 Shades but that's the fantasy. The reality is that even our own friends don't read us and I can tell you that my sister has never even bothered to buy a copy of anything I've written (my brother has and he even reads it, bless him).

Having people buy your books... it's amazing. I hope they like them. I really do.

They make me feel like my time writing is worth it.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Just sayin'

I don't want to overwhelm this blog with moving stuff so I'm going to keep a moving blog elsewhere.


Lori and Mollie


We had lunch today with Mollie's old 4th grade teacher. She's amazing. I loved being in their class because she has the class sing when they're doing class chores and she keeps them in a constant case of creating. It was Mollie's best year in school.

I'm about 2 boxes short of being completely packed. Go me!

Second book in the Hope series is coming along. Hard to write erotica but I'm slogging with it. I do ask Mollie for help. Just kidding.

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Keeping Score

Moving sucks!

I was sitting on the couch this morning and feeling like I had a million things to do and no time to do it. (We move in a month.) So I made a calendar. Made a note of every single day and put down at least one thing to accomplish that day.

I had only about two weeks of entries. And some of those were pretty small.

Guess this is one time that moving isn't really sucking. The biggest obstacle is going to be getting all the boxes out and mailed. It's freaking expensive. And I'm choosing to bring more than I originally intended. My SIL Myrna and I have been talking and we're similar in our love of kitchen-ware so I'll be bringing everything I love. And I love a lot in my kitchen.

Finished Book One of my Hope series and its being Beta'd. Working on Book 2 now. It's Erotic Romance and I'm writing the first erotic scene (well, full out sex scene) and it's hard. But the story is so clear to me that I'm willing to suffer through the sex writing.

Not reading much. Nothing can hold my interest right now. Understandably.

Getting really good responses on my resume so I'm feeling upbeat about the Hawaiian job market.

And I just trashed the First Page over at Dear Author. My apologies author, but I've said before on this blog that Hollywood is just something I know something about. I hate when people write Hollywood based stories and they get it all wrong.

Do your research.

Don't piss off the menopausal bitches  ;-)

Anyone want a cat?

Friday, July 18, 2014

Book Covers

So you're trying to sell a book. You're self-publishing. Are you paying for a cover or doing it yourself? Do you know how awful it is when you're trying to sell a book whose cover looks bad?

I've been seeing this a lot on Facebook recently. Really bad covers for self pubbed titles. And I don't know what to do because I want to tell the author how completely rubbish the cover is. You want to sell? It has to look good.


No offense Ms Woods but your cover is crap.

Lea made me this cover.


Which book is going to get you to click first?

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Moving Update

My life can be counted in boxes.

I'm having a dilemma of having things that don't mean the world to me but I like... posted on Craigslist but nobody is buying...  so either I give them away to Goodwill or something or I take them.

So they are items I don't exactly want to give away (like some Italian pottery) but I wasn't planning on taking.

So what do I do?

Saturday, July 12, 2014

It's Hot... Let's Write

Seattle actually has a weather warning for this upcoming weekend. We're up in the 90s which is pretty damned hot for us.

Our weather tends to be pretty temperate so this kind of heat is unusual and very not welcome. (I know, I'm moving to Hawaii and endless summer but believe it or not, I don't remember it really getting unbearable that often. Of course everyplace is air conditioned. Here, nowhere is because we rarely get crazy heat.

Hell, it almost 5am here right now and I'm sweating. This is severely yuck.

On the bright side, this kind of heat guarantees that I'm spending the weekend in front of a fan expending as little energy as possible. So I plan to write.

I'm working on a series and the first book is almost done. However, I went back to the beginning and started filling in. When I write my first draft is skeletal. The story is bare bones.

As I got toward the end I saw nuances in the characters that hadn't been brought out. So returning to the beginning allows me to start adding the meat and some fat. I'm loving it because I haven't written easily ina  long time and right now the words are easy. And the hard parts are already written so I get to develop the characters more and add their deeper feelings. Who wouldn't love that?

And when this is done, book 2 s an erotic romance. I'm really excited about writing that. Well, writing more since it's already been started.

Book 3 is still going through changes in my mind.

Goal is to get the first 2 books out by my birthday.

Give me the heat fellas, I'm ready to meet it head-on at the laptop.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Talk About Timing

I've tapered off my anti-depressants and now the only cat we found a new home for is coming back to us. The lady who took her said she doesn't think the cat is happy.

I need to find homes for three cats and so far, nobody has any interest. I don't want to give them to a shelter but I don't know what to do.

I've been handling the stress of moving and unemployment pretty well but this has pushed me over. Any suggestions?

Friday, July 4, 2014

Flowers Will Bloom

Let us cleanse our palates ....

This is a Japanese song translated for and sung by Il Divo. It's dedicated to the victims of the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. I wanted to keep this beautiful rendition. It's my Friday Video.  ;-)

Flowers Will Bloom




Tuesday, July 1, 2014

When Social Media Goes Hysterically Right

I'm not an Robin Thicke fan. In fact, I didn't really know him at all outside of being Alan Thicke's son (yes, I used to watch Growing Pains) and a cute music video from the Jimmy Fallon show. But a quick Google search when I first heard about him let me know that he was married to an actress named Paula Patton, that he cheated on Paula Patton and he didn't sound like someone I wanted to know more about.

Then apparently he did a song called Blurred Lines which is well, like he took a dump and turned it into a song. Seriously, go google it. It seems to be all about treating a woman as a piece of meat (like that's anything new, right?) and the Blurred Lines seem to be about consent.

Yes, nothing like a little rape to make a song more mainstream.

And in case you're wondering, Robin Thicke was the guy in the Beetlejuice suit that Miley Cyrus was twerking all over at that scary VMA performance.


So he's like in his late 30s and she's like 20 and she took all the heat for this performance and he manned up and.... oh wait, he didn't. He let her take all the heat.

And then later that night, he took this lovely pic with a fan:


If you can't see it, there's a mirror behind them and Thicke has his hand on her ass under her dress with fingers going where they most definitely don't belong.

His wife left him.

Do you think a semi-smart guy might recognize he needs to change at that point? Not Robin Thicke. He puts out an album called Paula, openly trying to get her back with songs about how she's his one true love... Okay, this is where I officially hate the guy. He's a pig. He's probably always been a pig.  But his wife has finished being married to him. Obviously. If he has to write an album begging her to take him back and she doesn't!!!!!! then it's obvious that it's over.

But no. He does a video where he actually uses her text messages to him. He does television appearances where he dedicates the performance to her and apologizes on stage for being a douche.

She's moved on. He's doing big, public gestures trying to make himself look like a prince. "Isn't that what women want?" someone asked. "The big, romantic gesture?"

No.

Let me say this again. No.

There are no Blurred Lines here. A woman doesn't want to be publicly humiliated. A woman doesn't want to be used. A woman doesn't want pictures of her husband fingering a blonde after pretending to fuck a 20 year old blonde on stage.

A woman wants to say "that's enough" and have it end. She doesn't want to defend herself when she's done nothing to defend.

So what does this have to do with social media? Bless. Apparently Mr. Thicke's PR guys decided that the best thing to do was go to Twitter and open a dialogue with his fans, calling it #Ask Thicke.

Oh Twitter, how I love you.

Robin Thicke is getting terrible abuse on the hashtag. Maybe If he'd dressed less provocative & stayed sober it wouldn't happen?


  1. Train A leaves the station at 40mph and train B leaves at 55mph, how far is the judge going to order you to stay away from Paula


Do you have any plans for songs or music videos that don’t promote rape or stalking?


Is this brilliant or what?

100s of tweets to Robin Thicke sticking it to him for his asshattery. And the best thing? He deserves this. Not the hatred or suggestions he offs himself. But the knowledge that people see through his behavior and it's not okay.

It's not okay.


How often should I delete my internet search history? You strike me as a good person to ask.

  1. if a woman says no but 'you know she wants it'. How many years in prison would you serve for statutory rape?

  1. What's it like being the human personification of a mid life crisis?