How to get good ideas for your story

READ, READ, READ.

There are several things an author can do to strain out good story ideas from his subconscious mind.

Read everything you can get your hands on: library books, books you love, books you hate, newspapers, encyclopedias, backs of cereal boxes, cookbooks, books that want to eat you.

A writer should read while he is relaxed because that is when the stuff he's reading sinks most deeply into his mind; furthermore, reading should be his primary form of relaxation, not skiing or tap dancing or fishing or building model trains or watching television, but reading.

No novelist can expect to reap harvest after harvest of fresh ideas from his subconscious if he is not constantly fertilizing his subconscious with reams of other writer’ fiction and nonfiction. With every novel you read, thousands of facts, characters, images, narrative techniques, and plot twists are stored in your subconscious, thereafter constantly interacting below the level of awareness. When bits of this input jell and surface, they are usually in an original arrangement that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the books from which they came.

Do you have a list of books from which you are reading?

We’re not alone -

PARALLEL WORLDS EXIST BETWEEN THE BOOK COVERS ON YOUR SHELF.

GO EXPLORING.

Runelord #8 Revised Bookcover

IT NEEDED A NEW NAME

The new book was ready to print. It's cover looked really good with the title BERSERKER LORD boldly stretched across some impressive artwork. The release date, October 13, only a few weeks away.

The Problem?

Due to another author having trademarked the word "BERSERKER" for use in fantasy and science fiction novels, David Farland needed to re-name his novel.

He had a little over thirteen hours.

So he opened up a contest. Got some really good responses. In less than a day he renamed his novel CHAOSBOUND.

Pretty cool, even if it isn't his first choice. (You know -- with fewer letters the title is bigger and actually stands out better. IMHO)

Release date - October 13.

Can hardly wait.

Guest Blogger -David Farland - Part One
David Farland - Part Two
David Farland - Part three

The Heldan Review - Graham Chops: Book Chop

BOOK CHOP: THE HELDAN

I'm so very happy to add this review by Graham Bradley to my blog and to my website.

Graham Chops: Book Chop

Title: The Heldan
Author: Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 stars

There's a story behind why I enjoyed this book so much. Let me explain.

When I was in the tenth grade, and had virtually no taste in movies, books or music, I picked up and read Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. I wanted to read it because the movie was coming out that summer, and it looked cool, because I was 15 and--as I said--had no taste.

The book didn't suck as bad as the movie did. It's indicative of what you could get away with in the sci/fi and fantasy genres thirty years ago (B.E. was written in the early early 1980s). Despite the book sucking, there were still plenty of elements I liked about it, namely that the world was well-defined and I felt like I could see all those things happen. I could see a wide open, silent landscape ripe for exploring and understanding, especially a thousand years after the earth had begun taking over cities. It was just really cool to think about.

Well, Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore created a world that was just as tangible and put it in a book that didn't suck. The Heldan is the story of a young woman named Senea who gets pulled into her tribe's military/law enforcement band through a process equivalent to the draft, though with a few more details. Life is hard for her as she strives to train to become a heldan warrior under the harsh, heavy hand of her master Vayhawk.

This is an outdoorsy book. Vayhawk and Senea pretty much do all their training while roughing it outdoors. Lots of excursions take place in the heat of the day, and a good portion of those excursions get interrupted by invading raiders from an enemy tribe--an element that Deborah uses to sort of hijack the story and screw up the helden's plan for the day. There is also an excellent story arc with a challenge of heldan Games, where Senea has to duke it out with another warrior. This keeps the story on track but breaks up the monotony of "Let's go camping, let's train, oh crap here come the Ja'Sid warriors again."

It was also a very visual book. I could see these places clearly in my head and it really made me want to travel down to Moab, Utah and ride the White Rim Trail on a mountain bike. Deborah
expressed the desire for me to "go easy on" this book the last time I saw her in June, given that it was her first, but there was really no need. I liked it; it was a relaxing dip into the waters of bread-and-butter fantasy without being overly epic or underdeveloped. This is one of those fundamental fantasy stories that doesn't rely on elves, dwarves or dragons, or a quest for a sword or a ring or treasure or anything like that. It's more of an adjustment from a complacent lifestyle to a demanding life of action, and the character responds to it with admirable composure.

This book is out of print, but you can find used copies of it online at Amazon. Just click on the link at the top. Also, go drop by Deborah's blog, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you!

• Graham Chops: Book Chop

• deborahtalmadge.net

David Farland - Book Giveaway Reminder - Post Three

DAVID FARLAND

BERSERKER LORD
book eight of The Runelords to be released October 13, 2009.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
David Farland is a pseudonym for Dave Wolverton and is the author of several series including The Runelords epic fantasy saga, the Mummy Chronicles, The Golden Queen, Star Wars tie-in novels, and the Benjamin Raven children’s series. Dave has been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula Awards and is a judge for the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

Me - Where do you think the future for the fantasy genre is headed?

DF - It will splinter into a million pieces, just like science fiction did. It used to be that forty years ago, as a kid I could read almost every science fiction book that came out, and I did! But as we began to publish more and more, the genre fractured. We began to see subgenres like “hard SF,” “Social SF,” “Time Travel,” “Military SF,” “Cyberpunk,” and so on. As genre-fication set in, as readers began to pick their specialty, they lost touch with science fiction overall. If you speak to a “sci-fi” fan today, he or she might only read Star Trek novels, or slipstream. The same thing is happening in fantasy. Right now, YA is dominating the field with vampire novels, zombie novels, werewolf tales and fairy stories, most in a contemporary setting. But there is still a strong contingent of readers for other types of tales. Yet I suspect that it will splinter into smaller and smaller groups.

But here is something that I think is interesting: you know how I mentioned that readers tend to love the fatter novels more? Well, we’re moving into a new age of writing, one where e-readers like the Kindle and the iPod will allow us to write paperless novels, and those novels will not have any real length restrictions. So if you want to write a 600,000-word “super-novel,” you’ll be able to publish it electronically without killing any trees. At that point, the bookstores and distributors won’t be standing over the writer’s shoulder saying, “You know, that won’t fit on our shelves nicely. You know that won’t fit in its binding properly.”

The end of the length restrictions will allow writers to reinvent the novel, to create works that are more massive, that have greater emotional depth and power, and which are more compelling.

Me - One of the things about your Runelords novels I like is, even though your characters are on a worldwide stage you don’t have them in a journey to show off that stage. You show your world in the telling of your story because it takes the whole world to tell it. How do you do your world building? Many writers get stuck in the minutia of world building and never get to the writing. When do you know you’ve done enough?

DF - I decided before I ever started the Runelords series that I wanted to create a world unlike any other—but I just didn’t want people to see it right away. In short, I wanted it to look like a typical medieval fantasy, but of course as the reader enters my world, they discover that there’s much more of it than first met the eye, and then they realize that they’ve never seen anything like it before.

So we started in Rofehavan in book one, and then we moved into Fleeds, Mystarria, and Indhopal in book 2. In books three and four we begin to see the Underworld, and in book five we begin to learn more about the One True World and the million million shadow worlds. Astute readers of course recognize that our world must be one of the shadow worlds that splintered off from the One True World during its annihilation.

In short, I recognized early that this book was going to take the reader places they’d never been, and that’s part of the great fun of fantasy. Books like Dune and Lord of the Rings have been so popular in part because the authors were able to guide readers into strange new worlds.

In any case, back to your question, when do you know that you’ve done enough? The answer might be different for each of us as writers. Some authors find that they naturally want to write fast-paced works with very little world-building. For me, though, it works this way: I have to imagine the setting until I can see it, smell it, and hear what is going on. Then all that I do is place my characters in that setting and let them act out their scenes—quickly enough so that the reader won’t lose interest.

But here’s the thing to remember: every reader has slightly different tastes when it comes to world creation. Robert Jordan, for example, spends huge amounts of time describing his world. I recently heard one writer say that Jordan had to over-write because he was trying to entertain an audience that was “unimaginative.” I don’t think that’s true at all. I think that he recognized that there is a huge audience for works of fiction that emphasize the element of transport. If you look at the best-selling novels of all time in any genre, you’ll find that they are almost always very fat books. They’re almost always novels of transport.

Me - Today, when the publishers aren't as willing to put out the huge 600 page novel, is it possible to do a shorter epic book?

DF - I think that you lose a lot when you try. I’d like to have more-complex plots than I can fit in a 400-page book, for example. You also have a difficult time writing a novel of transport that takes the reader to many new places.

So, yes, I think that it is possible to do, but it’s much harder than it should be.

Me - (This one is for me.) Do you ever work on more than one book at a time? If you do, how do you keep them apart in your mind?

DF - I’ve had to edit or do revisions on five novels in the past three weeks—all while working on my next big Runelords book. Last night I had a dream that will become a short story for an anthology. In spare moments, I’ve been plotting out the next book in my Ravenspell series. Then I have several big projects waiting in the wings. I have a thriller about a young movie producer who is making a movie using money supplied by terrorists about halfway finished. I have another series that’s called “Young Merlin” that I’m working on. I wrote a novel several years ago called The Young Olympians, which deals with the children of the Greek Gods. I’ve decided to rewrite it, putting more emphasis on a female anti-hero, and so on.

So, yes, I do work on more than one book at a time, but not by choice. I find that I like to focus on one book at a time, so when I’m writing the first draft, it is nice to get away for awhile, go down to Mexico and write on the beach, or take a trip to the Rockies.

Rewrites and alterations of course can be worked in between larger projects.

Of course, I’m always thinking, so I get ideas for upcoming novels at random. In fact, I find that it’s nice, once you get an idea for a story, to give it time to ripen. You see, any story has lots of holes in it at first. You might get a great idea for a major conflict, but you don’t know who your villain is. Or maybe you have a cool idea for your world, but you don’t know if there is a love interest in your story. So you have to take time to brainstorm, to fill up each of the holes in your basic plot.

Many times when I find myself thinking about a novel for a few hours in the middle of the night, and I’ll have to stop and take notes—especially if some cool idea just won’t leave me alone.
In fact, when I’m on writing retreats, I find that I have to take time away from writing so that I can do my brainstorming. So a typical day goes like this: 1) get up at 6:00 a.m. and write until 2:00 pm. 2) Go out and take a nap on the beach, work on tan, listen to music, or go swimming in the pool. 3) Exercise and eat dinner. Around 5:00 pm I relax and brainstorm some more. Then I write from 6:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.. I find that this is my perfect schedule. But did you notice that I give myself a four-hour break in the afternoon? The reason is that the right-half of the brain, the creative part, typically goes to sleep in the afternoon. I’m absolutely no good. So I have to relax, rejuvenate, and then come at it again.

ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY:
This is it. The final installment. Yes, it is possible to get the free stuff! In particular, a copy of one of Dave Farland's books. And all you have to do is comment on all three installments of this interview. Easy! On July 9th I will randomly pick a name from a hat for the the free book. You have until then to comment on all three. Just make sure I have a way to contact you... Email address with AT and DOT in it for Spam protection, or I can leave a comment on your blog.

Guest Blogger - David Farland - Part One
Book Giveaway - Reminder - Guest Post - David Farland - Part Two

Book Giveaway - Reminder - Guest Post - David Farland - Part Two

GUEST POST - DAVID FARLAND - PART TWO

Me - In your daily newsletter you've talked about how there is no recession for writers. Could you expand on that?

DF - Sure. I mean that while in many other areas of the economy we are seeing downward trends, the book industry—at least for fiction writers—has long been considered “recession-proof.” Overall, BookScan (a service that keeps track of book sales electronically) showed that fiction sales in my genre—science fiction—actually rose in the last quarter of 2008. Now, sales in other areas were down. Religious book sales dropped more than 25%. All of those self-help books on how to make a fortune? Nobody wanted them. Sales to schools went way down, too. Schools suddenly had to pay $5 per gallon for the gas to keep their buses going, so they decided to wait for another year to purchase books. So in some fields things were down, but in feel-good genres like romance and fantasy, we did just fine.

Me - What steps, direction or advice would you give to someone wanting to make writing a career right now instead of just having writing be a nice hobby?

DF - Get serious about it. Read good books and study what sells. Get a writer’s education. For some people, that means that they might need to go to college and study works that take them out of their comfort zone. Other people might want to join a writers’ group. For those who want to study intensively, I teach writing workshops from time to time—as do Kris Rusch and Dean Smith, and Orson Scott Card. I recommend them highly, but there are plenty of other good places to study, too. What you need really depends upon you individually.

Me - How important is regimen and routine in building a writing career?

DF - You know, I suppose one could put it that way, but I don’t like to. “Regimen” sounds too much like work to me. Personally, I love to write. It’s play for me. I find that what I really need is time to think, to focus, and to put my words down on paper lovingly.

Me - How important is mental attitude?

DF - Now there’s the right question! See, I don’t think that “forcing myself” to hunch over a keyboard and pound away until my fingers bleed really works. But having a playful attitude with your writing (Remember Shakespeare’s admonition, “The play’s the thing!”), an attitude where you’re having fun, where you’re entertaining yourself, where you keep competing with yourself so that you try to re-imagine a scene over a dozen ways until you get it perfect—that’s what you have to do. As soon as you find the joy in writing, you can’t stop. It’s like the words get unleashed, and you lose all control. I’ve found myself at times having written for fourteen or sixteen hours straight, and I’ll be bathed in sweat from working, and I’ll be grinning like a fool because I’m so happy to have written a story. Right now it’s eleven thirty at night. I’ve been working my tail off since seven this morning. What a fun day I’ve had!

Me - On a more personal note, readers like to know something about their favorite writers. What do you read for fun?

DF - I’m a habitual reader, so I read everything from the back of my Cheerios box on. I like to keep up with science, so I read a lot of science magazines. I do a lot of research via the internet and through books, but if I’m reading for fun, I will typically read either a fantasy novel or a thriller. I read lots of thrillers these days.

Me - What do you do to rejuvenate your creative juices?

DF - Frankly, I study. I often study history, archaeology, or other cultures. I also like to go to different countries to help get me out of my shell, or visit intriguing places. So I’ve gone out into the bayous of Louisiana at night to spotlight alligators, and I’ve hiked through forests in Tasmania, crossed the Gobi Desert in China, and climbed hills in Scotland.

I still have a lot of places that I want to see—Africa, the Amazon, and plenty of places in Europe.

Me - Do you have a favorite book? Movie?

DF - My favorite book of all time was Lord of the Rings, followed closely by Dune. At least, those are my favorites based on how often I’ve reread them. I suppose that Swiss Family Robinson has to go on that list, since I reread it often as a boy.

My favorite movie, based on that criterion, would have to be Star Wars. I saw it some thirty-five times in the first six months after its release. I was a real Star Wars geek. I have some pictures that I took of myself when I was nineteen, playing with my light saber. (I’d read about how you needed to study special effects in order to get a job at Industrial Light and Magic, so I bought a camera and began practicing various effects. I did a lot of macro-photography in nature, and spent a lot of time working with lighting effects.

But the truth is that I’m not sure if those standards for choosing favorites are all that wise. What do I read and reread now? I read Shakespeare—his historical in particular. I also read the poetry of Roethke, Frost, Yeats, and Thomas. As for movies, I don’t re-watch them very often.

Me - (Total Katie Couric question) Brandon Sanderson said he’s where he is today because he took your writing class. How does it make you feel to know your class had such an impact on him?

DF - It makes me feel great. Of course, I’ve taught a number of New York Times Bestselling Authors—several dozen. I used to keep track of how many young authors I helped get their first sale in short fiction or books, but I stopped when I reached a couple hundred. That was more than a dozen years ago.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
David Farland is a pseudonym for Dave Wolverton and is the author of several series including The Runelords epic fantasy saga, the Mummy Chronicles, The Golden Queen, Star Wars tie-in novels, and the Benjamin Raven children’s series. Dave has been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula Awards and is a judge for the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

BERSERKER LORD book eight of The Runelords to be released October 13, 2009.

ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY:
Yes, you can get free stuff!. In particular, a copy of one of Dave Farland's books. And all you have to do is comment on all three installments of this interview. Easy! One week after the third installment I will randomly pick a name from a hat for the the free book.

• Guest Blogger - David Farland - Part One

Guest Blogger: David Farland - Part One

GUEST BLOGGER: DAVID FARLAND

OFFICIAL BIO TYPE STUFF:
David Farland is a pseudonym for Dave Wolverton and is the author of several series including The Runelords epic fantasy saga, the Mummy Chronicles, The Golden Queen, Star Wars tie-in novels, and the Benjamin Raven children’s series. Dave has been nominated for both Hugo and Nebula Awards and is a judge for the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future contest.

UNOFFICIAL BIO STUFF:

I first heard the name David Farland during a book signing where other authors were talking about a children's book written by a nationally published author who usually wrote epic fantasies. After that I heard a lot about David Farland, his books, his workshops and the dozens of published writers who learned from him.

I've read a lot of epic fantasy and David Farland's Runelord's series wasn't anything like what I'd read before. I decided shortly after starting the series I needed to attend at least one of his workshops, if not more. I haven't been able to yet, but I've read his daily emails called David Farland's Daily Kick in the Pants. And they are fantastic! So I'm really excited to have David Farland, also known as David Wolverton as a guest on my blog.

He was very generous in answering my questions, and I don't want anyone to miss his insights, so I'm breaking this up into a 3 part series.

PART ONE...

me - First off, tell us about your new book.

DF - Actually, I have several things in the works. So let’s go by age:

Some fifteen years ago, I was driving down the street in Oregon with my son Forrest, who was four at the time. He was looking longingly out the window at a red helium balloon drifting above the woods outside the city of Corvallis, and he asked, “Dad, whose job is it to catch all the balloons that fly away?” Immediately I knew that I had to write a story, so I wrote a children’s picture book called The Balloon Catcher, which tells the story of a mystical man who hunts down wild balloons and then brings them to a decrepit, colorless city to give to children. When I finished it, I realized that I would rather have it be an animated film, so I pushed it to the back of my mind, thinking, “Someday I’m going to run across an animation studio that would be just crazy enough to make this film.” So last winter I met a young man who was starting an animation studio, and he’s making a 3D film based on the story. These guys are going crazy. For example, they made over 2500 animated people for this short film, and they’re doing some incredible design work. In any case, The Balloon Catcher should be finished in August, and I believe that we will be able to get the book/DVD combo released this fall.

Next on the list is my middle-grade book called Freaky Fly Day, the third in my Ravenspell series, which deals with a boy and his magical mouse. This is a story about an enormous fly named Belle Z. Bub who is born by spontaneous generation in an L.A. dump. By creating a wicked multi-level marketing campaign, she enlists the aid of billions of flies in taking over the world. But of course, she cannot stand unopposed. In this story, my magical mouse Amber teams up with her owner Ben (who has also been turned into a mouse), to take on Belle. Along the way, they team up with California Governor Harold Shortzenbegger, the finest specimen of humanity alive, in a battle royal for control of the Earth. This one comes out September first.

Third is my historical novel In the Company of Angels. In 1856, the leader of the Mormon church, Brigham Young, set in motion a program to bring the poorest Mormon immigrants in Europe and Asia to Utah in the American West. In order to save money, the immigrants were to cross the prairie in handcarts, which are basically large wheelbarrows. My story here follows three people who crossed the prairie in the fall of 1856—Eliza Gadd, a forty-year-old mother of eight who was the only non-Mormon to take the trek; Bodil Mortensen, a nine-year-old girl from Denmark who was sent by her parents to escape the extreme persecution that was going on at home; and Captain James Willie, a Mormon missionary who was made the head of the group and who gave away all of his fortune to pay for ship’s passage for these people. Unfortunately, the ill-fated handcart company got a late start and faced tremendous setbacks which included storms, buffalo stampedes, rampaging Cheyenne Indians, starvation, and the early onset of what became the coldest winter of the 1800s. What fascinated me about this story isn’t what went wrong, but how the journey changed these people’s lives.

My fourth book out this fall is my big fantasy novel called Berserker Lord, book eight in the Runelords series. For those who are following the series, when Fallion Orden bound two worlds together in Worldbinder, we follow what happens to him for the next two novels. But his stepfather, Sir Borenson, is on the far side of the world at the time. When the worlds are bound, Sir Borenson binds with his “shadow self,” himself as found in the world of the wyrmlings. There, he bore the title of “Lord Berserker,” or greatest of all berserkers, and as such was considered the greatest of his people’s warriors. As the body guard to the Earth King, Borenson was also one of the most deadly warriors on his world. Now, the two men are bound into one body, and Borenson must struggle to retain his sanity as he leads an expedition to save the world from the wyrmlings and their dark masters.

Stay tuned for Part 2, which talks about some of David Farland's ins and outs of writing.

BERSERKER LORD book eight of The Runelords to be released October 13, 2009.

***FREE STUFF! FREE STUFF! FREE STUFF! ***
Now that I have your attention, yes, you can get free stuff!. In particular, a copy of one of Dave Farland's books. And all you have to do is comment on all three installments of this interview. Easy! One week after the third installment I will randomly pick a name from a hat for the the free book.

For more information on Dave’s books or writing workshops, check out his website at www.davidfarland.net.

Interview with David Wolverton (aka David Farland) Diabolical Plots: David Steffen's quest for publication and world domination

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Status: Juggling everything I have to do
Song: What Scares You Most - Manic Bloom

A Book I Didn't Think I'd Like.

When I read the description of this book on Amazon it reminded me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. I wondered if Carrie Ryan wrote something similar (and how could she without legal consequences?), then wondered if she fixed what I thought was a major flaw in the movie. My curiosity got the better of me, so I picked it up.

Read it in one day.

Did I like it? Obviously it kept me interested.

What did I think of it? It's beautifully written. Puzzling because I don't like present tense. I was half way into the first chapter before I realized it was in present tense.

I spent the rest of the time trying to figure out how Carrie Ryan had accomplished it without it feeling like present tense.

What did I think of the story? It isn't my usual read. I've stayed up countless nights reading Dean Koontz and others. I read a lot of dark fantasy--YA and what not. But I usually stay away from this subject. Interesting that I finished it.

Is it like The Village? Sort of, but way creepier.

By the end I had a few questions I can't pose here without spoiling the book for others.

I liked it. But after a few days of thinking about it, I think I'm more disturbed by it. And those questions have only gotten stronger.

Don't be surprised to see The Forest of Hands and Teeth on the big screen someday. It's exactly the kind of story movie producer's will be anxious to get their hands on.

See Carrie Ryan's blog page here. [Link]

Don’t Die Dragonfly by Linda Joy Singleton

Status: So not looking forward to my dentist visit.
Song: Smile Lines - Incubus


“And to the girl with a dragonfly tattoo, don’t do it…”


“After getting kicked out of school and sent to live with her grandmother, Sabine Rose is determined to become a normal teenage girl. That’s why she hides her psychic gift from everyone at her new school, pretending that the predictions she helps write for the school newspaper are just fun nonsense. But when she starts having deadly visions of a girl with a dragonfly tattoo, she’s afraid everyone will think she’s freak, or worse—that no one will believe her until someone dies. Just like at her last school. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Sabine must find a way to prove her innocence—and warn the girl with the dragonfly tattoo before it’s too late.” From the back cover.

Sabine spends a great deal of effort trying to be just like everybody else. She has a best friend, nicknamed Penny-love, who Sabine shares everything with, except for the occasional dream. Nor has she revealed why she is living with her grandmother.

Sabine doesn’t want the dreams and visions that caused her to be expelled from her previous school, even though she is able to save Josh, the boy she is interested in, because of a vision. After she pushes him out of the way of a car, he asks her out on a date. They become steady dates, double-dating a few times with Josh’s best friend, Evan and his girlfriend, Danielle, who has a dragonfly tattoo on her wrist.

Sabine has had visions of a girl and a dragonfly several times. When she realizes that there really is someone who fits her visions she becomes concerned about her enough to follow her when she breaks into the school. She discovers Danielle looking for something in the file storage room. The janitor, who has been stealing from the school, catches them. He threatens to blame the thefts on them. Sabine and Danielle get away from him, but he ends up in the hospital from a beating he gets after they leave.

Sabine finds herself being framed for the break in and for the beating of the janitor. But she is able to get rid of the evidence that is left in her locker, before the police find it. She now knows she has an enemy, and she is forced to keep on her toes while she tries to discover who wants to destroy her reputation.

In the meantime, her grandmother has hired a boy, Dominic, to help out on her farm. Sabine is hurt when she discovers that her grandmother is sharing the secrets of her psychic skills with him, choosing him over Sabine. But she has gone so long in denying her gift, and ignoring her spirit guide, she has become rusty and can’t call it up at will when she finally decides she needs it. When she tries to prove to her grandmother that she is psychic she can’t do it. Her spirit guide, Opal, is miffed at being ignored most of the time so she doesn’t respond.

Sabine is left on her own to solve the mystery of who wants her out of the school, so she turns to her friend, Manny, at the school paper. He pairs her up with a Goth girl named Thorn, who uses psychometry to find things. Together, the three of them try to discover who has it in for Sabine.

When things get difficult and Dominic is the only one who can help her, can Sabine let herself trust him enough to rely on him? Will she realize that Josh really is not the rock she thinks he is. Can she ever let herself respond to the interest she feels for Dominic instead, or is she going to keep pushing him away?

This book, which is the first of a series, is interesting but doesn’t go very deep in character development. The character’s motives are the usual fare found in many of the young adult novels today. There are no real surprises. I had the culprit figured long before the end of the book. The only reason I would read any subsequent volumes is to find out what happens between Sabine and Dominic. I think, however, that this is a good book for young adults, there is very little that is offensive in it. It is an easy read and has enough romance to interest the high school girl.

A well written story but with nothing unexpected happening. I'll even read the next one.

The Cat Who Wasn't A Dog by Marian Babson - Book Review

Status: Trying to be productive
Song: Stiff Kittens - Blaqk Audio (Amazingly this fits more than you could know.)

Can you tell a book by it's catchy title?


When I saw this in the thrift shop, the title was so interesting I picked it up. Since I like little old lady sleuth stories, I paid the ten cents for the book and took it home.

From the back cover...

A Purrfect Crime!

"Dame Cecile Savoy’s “revolting floor mop” of a Pekinese has passed away at a ripe old age. Now the aging British actress convinces her rivals on stage and screen, Trixie and Evangeline, to support her in her hour of grief…by accompanying her to a taxidermist. But it’s a cab ride straight to a cat-astrophe! No sooner do the three elderly thespians enter “Stuff Yours” than they discover a dead body, a live kitty in a cage, and flames bursting from the back room. Fortunately for a rare Japanese bobtail called Cho-Cho-San, Trixie grabs the cat before fleeing the scene. But who’s the victim? Who set the fire? And why was a gorgeous feline going to be stuffed? Of course, Cho-Cho-San knows more than she’s letting on as the curtain goes up on foul play, murderous jealousies, and a killer who may be going to the dogs…”

Yea, I love Miss Marple-type who-done-its...

But that wasn't what I got.

This is more of a character book, rather than a mystery since the reader mostly follows the elderly actresses, who are putting on the play Arsenic and Old Lace, while having difficulties with their family and acquaintances.

A murder puts into their hands a beautiful, personable cat named Cho-cho-san, that seems to be at the center of the mystery. Everyone claims the cat.

Trixie, who finds the cat, falls in love with it after rescuing it from the burning taxidermist shop. Soroya Jordan, the actress from Bollywood, says the cat is hers, but she has just returned from the Far East so nobody believes her. She whisks the cat away anyway, only to forget it in various places. Dame Cecile Savoy thinks the cat has been given to her so she can get over the grief of losing her beloved Pekinese. Teddy Boynton, a really bad actor playing a crucial part in the play, seems to have the strongest claim, since the cat actually greets him with the enthusiasm of a pet.

But which one really owns the cat? And which one of them wants to have the cat stuffed?

The question of who murdered the poor taxidermist seems to have been pushed to the back of the story somewhere. But, I was wondering if his murder had anything to do with the cat.

To complicate matters, Trixie’s daughter, Martha, is working on a cookbook of recipes for and from thespians. Her editor, Jocasta, shows up to test the recipes, but she finds a house in chaos. Creating the recipes becomes difficult because the actresses who live there don’t cook and there aren't any supplies. Jocasta decides to explore the basement to see if there's anything there she can use and discovers a broken step and the missing housekeeper, dead at the bottom of the stairs.

Putting the recipes together before the cookbook’s deadline goes downhill from there. Teetotaler Jocasta gets plastered on the cooking wine in reaction to almost landing on top of the dead housekeeper. Then ends up with a monster hangover, making things even worse.

The story is fun to read, but there's not very much sleuthing going on. This is, instead, a madcap story that reminds me of the old keystone cop movies with everyone running back and forth, slamming doors, looking through windows, and never finding each other, let alone the solution to the mystery. In the end it’s the police who actually solve the case.

My sympathy throughout is strongest for Trixie because she really wants the cat. Every time she thinks she’s reunited with the cat, someone else whisks it off, claiming it is theirs.

Interestingly, The Cat Who Wasn’t a Dog also includes recipes from Martha’s (hmmmm - interesting name) cookbook. The recipes are interesting but not anything one would pick up the book to find. The recipe for No-Pans-to-Wash-Poached-Eggs is the best, and one I will give a try to see if it actually works. I’m not sure, however, if the author wants to try and branch into the cookbook/mystery niche where they actually do put in recipes. This book meanders all over the place and tries to interest a wider audience by throwing in everything but the kitchen sink.

Did I mention the seventeen ostriches?


The real mystery is, how three ladies can go to a random shop and find there a puzzle that involves everyone they know. It’s a coincidence that's just too implausible. I won’t say that the book is a waste of time. It’s amusing and easy to read, but if you’re looking for a who-done-it with little ladies figuring it out, you won’t find it here.

Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison, Book Review

Song of the day - What Scares You The Most - Manic Bloom
Status - Anxious to get started



Jaime told me about these books by Kim Harrison.

1. Dead Witch Walking (April 2004)
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Undead (January 2005)
3. Every Which Way But Dead (June 28, 2005)
4. A Fistful of Charms (June 27, 2006)
5. For a Few Demons More (March 20, 2007)
6. The Outlaw Demon Wails (February 26, 2008)
7. White Witch, Black Curse (February 24, 2009, forthcoming)

Some of the names were so blatantly borrowed from Clint Eastwood movies I had to see what the books had to offer.

In the first book of this series, Dead Witch Walking we are treated to the adventures of Rachel Morgan, a bounty hunter witch who lives in downtown post apocalyptic turn Cincinnati. So that's where the Clint Eastwood movie titles came in--the bounty hunter part, not the living in Cincinnati. Okay, interesting.

Rachel Morgan is an Inderland Security runner. She is equal to any criminal--witch, pixy, vampire or werewolf--able to bring them down with magical charms or just by physically tackling them. But she isn't happy. Her talents are being wasted as an IS agent. The runs she gets sent on a rookie could handle. So when she is offered three wishes by a tax evading leprechaun, she jumps at the chance to quit the IS and strike out on her own.

Rachel isn't the only one to leave the IS. The vampire Ivy, who really is one of the best IS runners around, and the pixy Jenks, who was assigned to act as Rachel's back up, both decide to quit with her in exchange for one of her wishes and a chance to work with Rachel in the freelance service she plans to open.

Leaving isn't a problem for Jenks, he's a freelancer. But an IS agent under contract is likely to only enjoy the shortest of retirements should they choose to quit. Once in, there's no way out except dead. Rachel thinks she's in the clear, because her boss, Denon, seems to have wanted her to quit anyway, but knows they'll be less than thrilled to loose Ivy. And she's right. When Ivy pays off her contract Denon blames Rachel for encouraging her to go and assigns some top assassins to kill her. Now Rachel is a dead witch walking unless she can prove that councilman Trent, one of the most powerful men in the city, is running Brimstone.

For the most part, Dead Witch Walking is clever on many levels. The magic in this world is very well done. Amulets and potions that can be timed or targeted on one person, black spells and white spells and ley lines, all combining to give a system that is both familiar and a good idea. Rachel trying to avoid being tagged by a killer adds a lot to the tension, while she and Jenks try to sneak into Trent's home through some ingenious means. One of the high points occurs when she turns herself into a mink and is caught. She eventually ends up being entered in a rat fight, and who she meets there and how she escapes is interesting.

The relationships between humans and vampires is also explored in interesting depth, as Rachel and Ivy's attempts to live together despite Rachel innocently violating certain rules-which is intended to be humorous, but really is pretty scary.

Kim Harrison gives each type of character a mini-society, giving us a lot of context in a little time, for example, the methods and reasons why Jenks and his pixie family defend the church garden they live in, their territorial wars with Fairies, and the prejudices Jenks faces. The idea that Ivy is a living vampire, infected with vampirism from the womb, and her relationship with her mother now that she is undead yet Ivy isn't, makes another non typical characterization.

It all hangs together to make a complete whole. Everything in Rachel Morgan's world works. Even though I couldn't buy in to everything that Kim Harrison sets up, I could see how her characters lived true to the fictional world they were in.

For me, Rachel Morgan is almost an antihero, in the Clint Eastwood bountyhunter mold. Only that's as far as the similarities go. Rachel is headstrong to the point of being stupidly stubborn, getting herself into one fix after another. She thinks she's the only one who knows what is going on and is the only one who can successfully get the 'perp'. Time after time she finds herself in more trouble than when she started. It's amazing she gets out the prediciments she gets herself into. I had a hard time liking her. However, the book is interesting enough to try the next one.

Cleaning up some old drafts, Jury Duty, Book Review of The Apprentice, Final Fanatsy

Status: Cleaning out the files
Song: Somebody Help Me - Full Blown Rose

I'm taking some time to address some of the subjects I had left saved as drafts.

No. 1: I was called to jury duty a few weeks ago. I've been called twice before, but this time I made it farther into the process. I was actually sitting as juror number 12. After several hours of listening to all the questioning of the potential jurors, and answering questions myself, it wasn't difficult to put together what the case was actually about.

The judge at the beginning read to us the charges and explained the kind of things we were going to hear, 'graphic', so it was easy to figure out what the defense wanted to focus on, 'some people lie'. The Prosecutors wanted to focus on other things...the graphic stuff.

Late in the afternoon I felt I had to speak up about some of my feelings on the whole thing. I was allowed to talk to the court out of the presence of the rest of the jury pool. I answered all of their questions...which went into my past pretty extensively. I basically told them I had a problem with judging someone as not guilty when they weren't innocent.

Needless to say, after it was all over the defense team asked for me to be dismissed. Oh, well. I was pretty hammered by the time it was all over.


No. 2: I'm putting a review of my book The Apprentice here, mostly so I can access it without having to link to the original. I will still link to it, of course, but this is in case that site goes down. It happens from time to time.


"The Apprentice" by Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore
It has occurred to me to ask, has anyone else read this book? It was the very first fantasy/romance cross I ever read, and I loved it. It was also somewhat a (failed) pioneer in the field, since it was published back in 1989--long before LKH opened up the genre with her Anita Blake novels.

I looked it up today and found that critics gave it a largely bad rap, and for all the wrong reasons. They stated an passive aggressive heroine and that it was "predictable" in that you saw many of the plot twists coming, and I think it was one of the biggest misunderstandings of the book I had ever seen.

The heroine was passive aggressive because she'd been abused all her life and didn't know how to fight back yet (one of the very FEW times I have approved of a passive aggressive heroine--what she was was not only perfectly natural, but classic symptoms of an abused child), and the "secrets" and "twists" the critics speak of...weren't. The author never kept anything from the reader because it wasn't important, it was only important the characters keep their secrets from one another. The book was based on character interplay and the lush atmosphere she created, and she really could make you stand right there, out on a cold mountain side with that timid but highly intelligent young lady, buckling down in too thin clothing to engage in back breaking labor while pondering with a mixture of loathing, unbidden attraction, and fear for the man who has waltzed in through the keep's front door to ever so quietly shake her whole world to their foundations.

This was THE book that got me hooked on paranormal/fantasy romance, and after reading it (*in* 1989) it set me on a 4 year search for more stories like it in a time when they just weren't being published. It wasn't until I stumbled across Anita Blake in 1993 I even began to see hints of the same sort of crossover between genres (though for a while the Silhouette Shadows series made a nice stop-gap measure). It still remains one of my all time favorite books, both in general and as a romance in particular.

Does anyone else even remember this book? Did anyone else ever read it? Katfireblade


Final Fantasy Video

This is for Ian and the rest of the boys who were excited when I found it. (I have to include myself because this is really COOL.)

Enjoy!

"The Apprentice" by Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore

"The Apprentice" by Deborah Talmadge-Bickmore

It has occurred to me to ask, has anyone else read this book? It was the very first fantasy/romance cross I ever read, and I loved it. It was also somewhat a (failed) pioneer in the field, since it was published back in 1989--long before LKH opened up the genre with her Anita Blake novels.

I looked it up today and found that critics gave it a largely bad rap, and for all the wrong reasons. They stated an passive aggressive heroine and that it was "predictable" in that you saw many of the plot twists coming, and I think it was one of the biggest misunderstandings of the book I had ever seen.

The heroine was passive aggressive because she'd been abused all her life and didn't know how to fight back yet (one of the very FEW times I have approved of a passive aggressive heroine--what she was was not only perfectly natural, but classic symptoms of an abused child), and the "secrets" and "twists" the critics speak of...weren't. The author never kept anything from the reader because it wasn't important, it was only important the characters keep their secrets from one another. The book was based on character interplay and the lush atmosphere she created, and she really could make you stand right there, out on a cold mountain side with that timid but highly intelligent young lady, buckling down in too thin clothing to engage in back breaking labor while pondering with a mixture of loathing, unbidden attraction, and fear for the man who has waltzed in through the keep's front door to ever so quietly shake her whole world to their foundations.

This was THE book that got me hooked on paranormal/fantasy romance, and after reading it (*in* 1989) it set me on a 4 year search for more stories like it in a time when they just weren't being published. It wasn't until I stumbled across Anita Blake in 1993 I even began to see hints of the same sort of crossover between genres (though for a while the Silhouette Shadows series made a nice stop-gap measure). It still remains one of my all time favorite books, both in general and as a romance in particular.

Does anyone else even remember this book? Did anyone else ever read it?

Shelfari