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    Words of the week …

    3 Comments

    There was an interesting post over at Fangs, Fur, and Fey this week talking about authors who blog and how much of their work they share online. One person commented that she likes to see a sentence or two from daily writing. I thought this was a cool idea and thought I would share a paragraph I’ve written this week.

    This is from Assassin 2. I’m currently working on the second draft of the book, really getting into the story and adding all the description, etc. Anyway, here’s a paragraph about one of the bad guys, a defense lawyer. Enjoy!

    At first glance, Jonah McAllister looked like any other man in the room. Classic tuxedo, white shirt, diamond cufflinks, polished wingtips. His gunmetal gray hair was parted on the side, with a thick doowop that curled up, down, and around his forehead like a scoop of vanilla soft serve. Although he had to be pushing fifty, Jonah had the face of a much younger man — smooth, clean-shaven, free of wrinkles, even around the corners of his brown eyes. My guess? Botox and the finest Air elemental facials and skin treatments his retainers could buy. Still, for all his youthful vigor, Jonah McAllister radiated aw-shucks charm the way a snake-oil salesman might. Shake his hand, and you’d be wiping the grease off yours for the next ten minutes. And wondering where the hell your wallet went.

    If you guys like these sort of mini-excerpts, I might share more as I go deeper into the book. Let me know in the comments.

    Have a great weekend! :ww:

  • A lost theory …

    Warning: there be spoilers ahead, if you haven’t watched last night’s episode of Lost yet.

    I don’t think I’m going to like what happens to Sawyer in the season finale of Lost. Based on the previews at the end of last night’s episode, it looks like Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Sayid, and Hurley are on Lapidus’ helicopter and that it’s about to go down in the ocean.

    Since we know Sawyer isn’t one of the Oceanic Six, I’m betting that he gets all noble, kisses Kate goodbye, tells her he loves her, and takes a header off the helicopter to lighten the load so it won’t crash. We already know everyone else survives (except for Lapidus).

    Oh, Sawyer. I really hope they don’t kill you off. Josh Holloway is one of the few reasons I’m still watching the show. Sigh. :cry: 

    What about you guys? Got any Lost theories to share?

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    Summer fun …

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    Holy summer, Batman! :batman:

    Can you guys believe it’s almost Memorial Day? With the longer days and lack of good TV to watch (except for The Closer and Burn Notice, which I am eagerly awaiting), I tend to be more productive in the summer as far as writing goes.

    I thought I’d share some of the stuff I’d like to accomplish this summer — or at least by the end of September, when my time will once again be sucked up by the TV’s siren song. In no particular order:

    1) Write Assassin 2 (working on it right now — 62,000 words and counting)

    2) Write Assassin 3.

    3) Write Spy 3.

    4) Write Charm Queen (think urban fantasy with cowboys and magic)

    5) Write a romantic suspense or my long-percolating romantic comedy

    6) Whittle my TBR pile down to 10 books. So I can order some stuff I really, really want, like Fire and Ice by Anne Stuart and Ill Wind by Rachel Caine. And of course, the new one by J.R. Ward. :scooby: 

    What about you guys? Got big plans this summer? Share in the comments.

  • 874 and counting …

    2 Comments

    Finished Holidays are Hell, an anthology featuring holiday-themed stories from Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Marjorie M. Liu, and Vicki Pettersson. I’m not going to get into the details of each story, but just do a brief recap.

    Harrison serves up a Rachel Morgan story, featuring the Hollows witch as a young student trying to find a girl lost on the solstice. Sands’s tale features shapeshifters, a runaway reindeer, and lots of Christmas humor and cheer.

    Liu’s story focuses on a government agent named Six, who teams up with a wizard to stop some vampire terrorists. Pettersson serves up a twisted Thanksgiving tale about a fallen Zodiac heroine and her attempts to save her granddaughter.

    Of the four stories, Liu’s was my favorite. I always enjoy her lush, descriptive writing, and Six was a really strong, interesting character who more than held her own with the bad guys. I also enjoyed Harrison’s story, and it was interesting to see Rachel presented as younger and more vulnerable.

    Sands’s story was cute, zany fun, although I did wonder why her shapeshifter (who turns into a reindeer at one point) just didn’t stab the bad guy who was pursuing her with her antlers.

    Then, there’s Pettersson’s tale, which was rather dark and depressing. The story, set on Thanksgiving, is about a woman trying to save her infant granddaughter from the ultimate evil. Not only that, but her granddaughter is premature and the result of her teenage daughter being brutally raped and attacked. And the main romance doesn’t end well. Not exactly the cheery, upbeat holiday tale I’d expected. Still, her Zodiac world was intriguing, and I’d be interested in reading more by her.

    I probably would have enjoyed this one a little more if, well, it had actually been the holiday season. But I wanted to read it now instead of waiting. Still, the book featured some interesting worlds and stories. So, thumbs up.

    Up next: Dead Man Rising by Lilith Saintcrow.

    What about you guys? Anyone read anything good lately? Share in the comments.