• 836 and counting …

    Finished Lover Revealed by J.R. Ward. This is the fourth book in her Black Dagger Brotherhood series.

    This one’s about Butch, a human ex-cop who’s fallen in with the big, buff vampires, and Marissa, a pampered noble who feels constrained by the rules of the vampire high society. There’s the usual angst, battles, love found, love lost, and love found again.

    Butch is one of Ward’s better heroes. He never fit in with his human family, but he doesn’t really fit in with the vampires either. I also liked Marissa a lot because she’s unhappy with her situation and actually does something about it herself — instead of waiting for someone to rescue her.

    I thought the main conflict between the two was a little contrived (or at least went on too long throughout the book). Butch doesn’t feel he’s worth. Marissa doesn’t approve of his actions. It went back and forth like that a lot.

    Also, one thing I am a little tired of in Ward’s (and other writers’) novels is this insane possessiveness that the men have towards their women. In this book, a vamp from a previous book has to be physically restrained because his wife gives Butch some of her blood to drink — even though that’s the only way to keep Butch alive. Um, you’d think the vampire could put aside his jealousy long enough to, I don’t know, save his friend’s life. But maybe that’s just me.

    Still, Ward weaves her characters’ stories together in interesting ways, and I’m interested in reading the ffith book.

    So, thumbs up.

    Up next: Some Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman.

  • ·

    It is done … for now …

    8 Comments

    So, I turned in a book to my agent today. It’s the urban fantasy book I’ve been talking about — the one about the assassin who can control elements. My agent now has each and every one of the 105,839 words.

    Finishing a book (no matter how crappy it is) is always a great feeling, but I think I’m a little extra proud of this one … mainly because I started it in mid-October.

    That’s right, 105,839 words in roughly two months. That’s about 1,700 words a day, not counting editing and revising time.

    Why did I do this madness, you ask? I sent my agent a couple of proposals, and she liked the assassin book the best. She wanted to see it. ASAP. So, I wrote it. ASAP. And it’s finally done — at least until she comes back to me with revision thoughts.

    I think I’m going to go sleep now … 😯

  • This is cool …

    Courtesy of my significant other (who surfs the Internet way too much), comes a fun and tough geography quiz. I got up to level seven before I got bounced out. Enjoy! :joe:

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    Titles, titles everywhere …

    4 Comments

    So, I’ve been working on a new project.

    The book is an urban fantasy about an assassin who gets double-crossed and has to go after the people who hired her in the first place. Darker and grittier than what I usually write with a Southern flavor, but still some cheeky, gallows humor in places. The world features vampires, dwarves, giants, and elementals — humans who can control and manipulate the four elements of fire, ice, stone, and air.

    The assassin’s name is Gin. She’s an elemental who can control stone and ice, and all-around take-charge, kick-ass woman. I love writing strong women, and Gin’s definitely the toughest one I’ve done yet. She’s good at killing people, in doing what needs to be done, and she doesn’t torture herself over it. It’s just how it is in her world.

    But now comes the hard part — deciding on a title. I’ve been batting around titles with just about everyone, my significant other, my agent, my writers’ group. Nothing’s really grabbed me just yet.

    Right now, the front-runner is Gin on the Rocks or maybe just On the Rocks. I was thinking maybe I could use the word Gin in all the titles, should there be more books. Like Gin with a Twist or A Touch of Gin, etc.

    Other titles we’ve considered are: Cold as Ice, Iced, Heart of Stone, Heart of Ice, Cold Comfort, and a dozen others.

    What do you guys think? Do you like some of the titles? Hate them? Inquiring minds want to know …