Sunday Afternoon
Some brief writing-related thoughts:
1) I've found it a little amusing that after title of their novels, some authors feel the need to put the words A NOVEL. You know, like: "The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer." It's almost as though if the author doesn't put those two all-important words after the title, I'm going to mistake their book for a cheese sandwich or a lawnmower or something.
2) I bought Jailbait Zombie by Mario Acevedo at the bookstore yesterday, the not-quite-latest installment in the "Felix Gomez, Vampire Detective" series. The entire series thus far, in order are as follows: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, The Undead Kama Sutra, Jailbait Zombie and (most recently) Werewolf Smackdown. The titles are just terrible enough to be inspired, as though they'd been laid out by Bruce Campbell, and what talent he doesn't use on the titles gets applied in spades to the stories themselves. You definitely want to read Mario Acevedo.
3) The really good part about having four of the Ring of Fire novels done is that each of them is now at the all-important 80-100,000 word length that modern publishers are looking for. Salvation required the most effort to get into that zone, but the others (Covenant, Backlash and Underworld) were already in that zip code upon completion. Descent, Ring of Fire #5, is current at just over 50k, so that's moving along well.
4) I just finished Changes, the newest Harry Dresden novel by the batch of awesome that goes by the name Jim Butcher. I wonder if he is taking applications for the position of minion?
5) I've also been reading the "Cin Craven" series by author Jenna Maclaine. They're breezy fun, and they definitely come recommended.
6) Finally, I've geared up again on Descent. While I'm still waiting to hear back on the submissions of Salvation and The Final Nine, along with the proposal to Harlequin for Lottery Odds, I also feel like I need to get back to typing and since I'm not feeling terrifically inspired to finish off Dead of Winter at this time, back to the universe of Kyle and Angelique.
6a) Oh, I've also decided that Zero, which was to have been the final Ring of Fire novel, will definitely not be the end after all. It will close off the main storyline of Kyle and Angelique as it was designed to do so, but there will be other novels written in the same universe to come. To this end, I have rethought the death of one of the major characters during Zero, and I have decided that person will not croak after all.
That's what's going on with me. Rainy days are the best.
1) I've found it a little amusing that after title of their novels, some authors feel the need to put the words A NOVEL. You know, like: "The Host: A Novel by Stephenie Meyer." It's almost as though if the author doesn't put those two all-important words after the title, I'm going to mistake their book for a cheese sandwich or a lawnmower or something.
2) I bought Jailbait Zombie by Mario Acevedo at the bookstore yesterday, the not-quite-latest installment in the "Felix Gomez, Vampire Detective" series. The entire series thus far, in order are as follows: The Nymphos of Rocky Flats, X-Rated Bloodsuckers, The Undead Kama Sutra, Jailbait Zombie and (most recently) Werewolf Smackdown. The titles are just terrible enough to be inspired, as though they'd been laid out by Bruce Campbell, and what talent he doesn't use on the titles gets applied in spades to the stories themselves. You definitely want to read Mario Acevedo.
3) The really good part about having four of the Ring of Fire novels done is that each of them is now at the all-important 80-100,000 word length that modern publishers are looking for. Salvation required the most effort to get into that zone, but the others (Covenant, Backlash and Underworld) were already in that zip code upon completion. Descent, Ring of Fire #5, is current at just over 50k, so that's moving along well.
4) I just finished Changes, the newest Harry Dresden novel by the batch of awesome that goes by the name Jim Butcher. I wonder if he is taking applications for the position of minion?
5) I've also been reading the "Cin Craven" series by author Jenna Maclaine. They're breezy fun, and they definitely come recommended.
6) Finally, I've geared up again on Descent. While I'm still waiting to hear back on the submissions of Salvation and The Final Nine, along with the proposal to Harlequin for Lottery Odds, I also feel like I need to get back to typing and since I'm not feeling terrifically inspired to finish off Dead of Winter at this time, back to the universe of Kyle and Angelique.
6a) Oh, I've also decided that Zero, which was to have been the final Ring of Fire novel, will definitely not be the end after all. It will close off the main storyline of Kyle and Angelique as it was designed to do so, but there will be other novels written in the same universe to come. To this end, I have rethought the death of one of the major characters during Zero, and I have decided that person will not croak after all.
That's what's going on with me. Rainy days are the best.