Show Me the Way to Go Home

I'm just home from a long holiday road trip. Five days away left me equal parts wonderfully exhausted, warmly buzzed from being with family I don't have a chance to see often enough, and eager to get home so I could see my husband, whose work schedule didn't let him come with us for the fun. I keep randomly grinning from the little snippet-memories I'm getting of things that made me laugh over the weekend.

It's about an eight hour car trip to my sister's house. We've done the trip so many times that there isn't much that is shiny and new along the route, other than the occasional new construction area that slows traffic to a crawl. Not exactly the sort of new I look forward to. And I'm very much an "It's about the destination, not the journey" person when it comes to this sort of road trip. If I only have 5 days, I want to get there and start having fun with the people I'm going there to see.

So the 16 hours in the car that bracket these family visits have been the least favorite part of this trip for a long time. And this is in spite of the fact that the kids are really great travelers. They know bickering will make Mom a NOT happy person, and when a NOT happy person is in charge of snacks, drinks, and potty breaks... well, let's just say they are sharp enough to know not to go there. But I didn't like that the trip there and back had become something we just endure.

Then a few years ago I picked up an audiobook right before the trip. I think my daughter was 6 then, and my son 14. And suddenly, the words "Are we there yet" all but disappeared from our road trip dialogue. Instead, before we're even out of our neighborhood I hear "Start the book Mom!"

The only real challenge to this is finding a book that appeals to both kids and me. My son is 16 now, and my daughter 8. Not a whole lot of overlap in their reading interests. But having it read aloud means that I can introduce my daughter so some books she isn't quite ready to tackle on her own just because her reading vocabulary isn't quite there, as long as I keep the genre one my son likes. Luckily the fantasy genre, his favorite, has a large number of young adult authors that fit our niche very sweetly.

This trip we found a new-to-us author, Garth Nix. His book "Sabriel" was a perfect mix of magic, with a talking cat (who isn't really a cat), a young female heroine with enough male voices to keep my son happy, and a storyline that was kept us all entranced. The unabridged audio was just over 11 hours, leaving us enough downtime that my daughter could nap a bit and I could get my NPR fix. And we made it there and back having heard a great story, perfectly framing the wonderful family time that was the main reason for the trip.

I'm already looking forward to our next family trip. I'm not sure what we'll listen to next time. Something YA, so the content isn't too "adult" for the now 8 year old. Something with magic, and either cats, horses, or dragons. (Unicorns are cool too!) Something no more than 14 hours unabridged, and at least 8. Any suggestions?

News of the Weird for travelers

There's a lot of really strange news out there these days, and it's not limiting itself to the Editorial page.
Here are three strange but true tales from the recent headlines.

Ghost Car on patrol - Car 1453 of the Westchester County police department looks almost unfinished. It's not unmarked, but it's decals and police markings are white or colorless, just like the 2009 Crown Victoria itself. The markings are almost invisible, especially to a distracted driver - one speeding, driving drunk, or texting / talking on the cell phone, which is illegal in Westchester County. One of the most interesting parts of the article - While the officer was driving, "...suddenly, there was a buzz — (Officer Tierney's) own cellphone. He pulled it out and saw it was his sergeant, so he answered. Police officers, it turns out, are exempt from the cellphone law."




Paying to Pee -

"If you take a Ryanair flight, you'll soon have to pay to pee - and more." Ryanair is a low cost Irish airline that operates mainly out of Dublin and London. In their latest Euro pinching move, they've decided to make the rest rooms on their Boeing 737's accessable only if the passengers are willing to pump some tokens or coins into the door to open it. Expecting most customers will choose to hold it in rather than pay to relieve themselves, they also plan to rip out several of the in-flight toilets to add more passenger seating - which may violate the FAA regulations allowing how many passengers they allow on their aircraft. If you're flying Ryanair, be sure to stop off in the airport faciilities before boarding - and hope they don't make you sit on the runway for long. Those long haul trips could be a bladder killer.

Your seatmate is leaning on you - is he dead or sleeping?

Many frequent travelers have had the unfortunate experience of having the person in the seat beside them fall asleep, turning their seatmates into a pillow. It used to be a good day if there is no drool involved. Maybe that standard is about to change. Two women in Liverpool tried to check in 91-year-old Curt Willi Jarant for a flight to Berlin, insisting the lifeless man was just sleeping. Airport worker Andrew Millea said he knew Jarant was dead upon the group's arrival to the airport, when he helped move the man into a wheelchair. "I did my best to help by carefully lifting the man from his seat," Millea told The Daily Telegraph. "To my horror, his face fell sideways against mine. It was ice-cold ... but they reassured me that he 'always sleeps like that.'" The two women were arrested after Millea alerted authorities... poilice believe Jarant died of natural causes.

I don't know about you, but to me staying at home is starting to sound a whole lot better. Ever had anything truly strange happen while you're on a trip?

Éire go Brách

Ireland Forever!
There's something special about Ireland. What is it about this island just off the northwest coast of Europe that makes so many hearts sing, so many souls dance?

It could be the whiskey; it has certainly been "inspiration" for generations.

Or is it the beauty of the island itself?

The richness of Ireland's history?

(Dunguaire Irish Castle)

It could be the Irish people themselves that fascinate us, with their reputation for a quick temper and a quicker laugh. It makes them fierce enemies, and passionate artists.

"I am a drinker with a writing problem."- Brendan Behan

Ireland sits at the very top of my "someday I'll visit there" list. I'm more than a bit envious of my baby sister; she's in the middle of her second trip there now. Lucky for me she'll have many fabulous stories (and hopefully pictures) to share when she gets home.

One day a year, on St. Patrick's Day, most of the world finds a reason to be Irish. Maybe it's an excuse to go out drinking (please, as a former bartender, I beg you to avoid the green beer). Maybe an excuse to get kissed? And who really needs an excuse for that.

As much as anything, I love that the Irish have a saying for everything. One of my favorites -

"A toast to your coffin. May it be made of 100 year old oak. And may we plant the tree together, tomorrow."

Whether you love the country for its beer, its beauty, its art, or its history, Happy St. Patrick's Day to you! I hope you are wearing a bit of the green today, even if only in your heart.

-Ember
www.embercase.com

But I'm not inspired

I've been in a funk this past week. I've squeezed out a few hundred words a day, but no where near reached my daily minimum. Everything around me seems to be "keeping me from writing"* and my inspiration level has been set at non-existent.

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

~Gene Fowler

The kids only have two and a half days of school this week. Mentally I gave up on the days they'll be home before they week even started - how will I get anything done with the kids around anyway?

My local NPR station switched its morning programing, and how can I expect to concentrate when my usual shows aren't on at the accustomed times?

My laptop wallpaper is old and no longer inspires me. But ninety minutes spent surfing for new paper last night didn't result in anything more exciting.

The news is full of heartbreaking stories of the dead, missing, and too-few survivors in Haiti. My heart is heavy, and I'm not feeling the sexy vibe.

Hubs is in transition with his job, and pops into my office (or calls me from the other end of the house) at least twice an hour. Half an hour ago he was in here talking to me, and after my fourth "huh" in as many minutes he asked "Are you listening to me?"

Sheepish look from me. "Not really, I'm trying to work."

"Why didn't you say so?" he muttered before he walked away, leaving me alone.

I can feel the silence swelling around me. It's even more distracting than his talking.

Now you tell me, with all that going on how can anyone expect me to get any work done?
~~~
If you've made it this far, are you ready to throw a bucket of cold water over me yet? Because really, I think someone needs to.

Yes, the kids have a short school week. This happens multiple times a year. They're also old enough to actually leave me alone for 30 minute stretches if I plan around it.

NPR switched programming on me. Not a life altering event, unless I have totally lost the ability to go with the flow. I have NOT become that person (yet).

The events in Haiti are terrible. But even in tragedy, my deadlines need to be reached, my commitments met.

Desktop wallpaper - really? Did I honestly think for longer than 10 seconds that this was my problem? (Sadly, yes. Can I have my ninety minutes back?)

Neil Gaiman says,

"One word after another. That's the only way that novels get written and, short of elves coming in the night and turning your jumbled notes into Chapter Nine it's the only way to do it."

Those words have been my desktop wallpaper since November, inspiring me every day when I sit down at my desk. Now why didn't I just copy this picture over to my laptop last night, instead of looking for inspiration on Google Images.

So what's really been "keeping me from writing"* all week? Me.

It's all me. None of the above excuses, or the other two dozen that were just too lame to even put on the screen, had to keep me from writing. Now that I've written all this out, I can see that it's all been nothing but a bunch of poor-me'isms that I turned into a huge waste of time.

Two more of my favorite quotes that popped into my head today.

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
~Thomas Edison

Why didn't I have this talk with myself six days ago? The only person who can fix me, is me. No one else can put my fingers on the keyboard, and the elves sure haven't been coming in the night.

But just in case - if anyone has a favorite source of inspiration, I'd love to see it.

Three things I've learned about the holidays

It's Christmas Eve Eve in our house, and my daughter is busy counting down the minutes until it is officially Christmas Eve, followed by Christmas, and Christmas Road Trip. There's anticipation and excitement, giggles and glee, all flavored with a dash of greed (Mom, come look at this! I wanted to ask for this to!) every time A Scooby Doo Christmas is interupted by commercials for something she hadn't yet asked for. (Sorry kiddo, it's too late for me to go looking for Aqua Sand. And Pillow Pets have been out of stock for weeks now.)

Some of the presents are wrapped and under the tree, while a few others are in boxes waiting for a moment when little eyes won't see what is in them before the swaddling of shiny paper surrounds them. The cookies have been baked and handed out, and the holiday playlist has been on auto-shuffle for weeks. The days are short, the nights are cold (even in Florida - we almost got down to freezing last night!), and there are less days left in 2009 than there are fingers on my hands.

So now that I've set the mood (busy, cold, and happy) let me share a few things about the holidays :

1 - You can tell a lot about a person by the way they approach gift giving, and receiving a gift. Specifically : What is the perfect gift? My answer - anything, and everything, as long as it is given with loving thoughts and good meaning. If someone gifts a gift card or even smooth foldable cash, and they do it because they want the receiver to be able to get exactly what they want, that gift is every bit as thoughtful and well intentioned as a hand-knit sweater or a shiny flat panel plasma screen that was given with the same spirit.

2 - You can learn a lot about yourself by how you handle the holidays. Are you stressed because you don't have everything finished when you wanted it to be? You may need to stop and smell the pine wreaths. Had your presents wrapped since before Thanksgiving and the cookies in crush-proof boxes in the freezer since the first of the month? You might could use a bit of excitement in your holiday - try substituting Rumplemintz for the rum in your holiday nog. Wishing it was all over and you could forget about the holidays completely? Drop a box of canned goods off at a local food shelter, and you'll have done something good whether it was holiday related or not.

3 - It's about the love. And if it isn't about the love, you're doing it wrong. It doesn't matter whether you are celebrating Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Boxing Day, or Bill of Rights Day. Celebrate it with love and sincere wishes for the happiness and well being of those around you, and you can't go wrong.

I hope your days are filled with laughter and your nights filled with love as we approach the end of the year. And wherever you spend the holidays, whatever you celebrate, may the peace and spirit of the season fill your hearts with joy.

Happy holidays!

Giving thanks for it all

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day here in the US. It’s a day of family and parades and pie, football and friends and laughing. If we’re lucky we get to spend it with people we love. If we’re really lucky, we get to spend it with family we love. This year I’m really lucky.

My parents came south again this year, along with baby brother (The fact that baby brother has been old enough to go hang at the sports bar with the other football-obsessed men for several years does not not mean I have to stop calling him baby) and baby sister (who hadn’t been a baby for almost a decade when baby brother was born) and her awesome husband. My in-laws and a cousin’s family, as well as a good family friend, will join us at the holiday table.

We’ll eat too much, drink too much, and moan too much about what we did to our stomachs when we’re done. After the forth or fifth bottle of wine we’ll tell stories that we shouldn’t, and Friday we’ll hope no one remembers we told them. Or even better, we won’t remember having told them, and if it ever comes up in the future we’ll give the other person a “you’re crazy” look and quickly change the subject.

Mostly we’ll just be thankful. That we’re together, and sharing a special day. That we’re mostly healthy (*cough*), and so many of us will be eating at the same table.

2009 has been an interesting, exciting, and sometimes crazy year. I’ve had one book release this year, and have another coming next week. We’ve had some dark moments this year – I don’t know anyone that hasn’t – but the good days have far outweighed the bad (picture me knocking on wood as I wrote that). Which is truly something to be thankful for.

How will you be spending your thanksgiving? Is there something you’ll be especially thankful for?

A bit of magic

There're only three more days until Halloween is here. As much as I enjoy the excitement around the day, I'll admit there's a part of me that will be glad when November 1st arrives.

That's the part of me that's had to watch Halloweentown, Halloweentown II : Kalabar's Revenge, Return to Halloweentown, and let's not forget Halloweentown High somewhere near twentytwelve times each this month.





You see, my daughter has discovered magic. She's still not ready for Harry Potter (oy - I just had to go there, didn't I? Probably by next year, if the Universal Theme Park opens this year.) Yet thanks to Disney's Wizards of Waverly Place and their Halloweentown movie series she loves, loves, loves magic. She has spent the past few weeks practicing spellcasting, chanting made up words under her breath, and trying to turn her brother into a frog.



Now Wizards of Waverly Place is actually a pretty ok show. Selena Gomez is a cute, talented teen, and it's one of the few shows that doesn't have whining, annoying, or too-old-for-their-age kids on it. And the Halloweentown movies aren't too bad either - Debbie Reynolds made a pretty nice granny witch, and the movies are just the right touch of scary for a seven year old witch-wanna-be. But please, please, please stop showing the same things over and over and over. It's enough to make me miss Goosebumps, her scary-season fixation from last year.



The Halloweentown movies will be on Disney no less than 14 more times between now and the end of the month, so if you've somehow missed them you've got plenty of chances to make up for the loss. I think it may be time for me to unplug the satellite though. Otherwise I may never make it until November.

Education by Television

I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.
~ Groucho Marx

I think Groucho would have become very educated if he had to look at the 2009 fall TV line up. I'm looking the network choices over, and finding very few shows to get excited about.

That means more time for writing and reading though! My silver lining.

So what am I looking forward to? It's a short list. First, a few returning shows.
- Castle on Monday - and I admit I watch it for Nathan Fillion more than the writing. He'll always be Captain to me. Unfortunately this show isn't Firefly, so I'll probably only remember to turn it on a few times during the season.
- I'll TiVo NCIS on Tuesday and watch it later in the week with hubby. It's about the only show we both watch.
- The Mentalist on Thursday. Ok, so there are two shows hubby and I both watch. This one we'll also TiVo to watch together later.
- Dollhouse on Friday! I'm having an "ugh" moment seeing Fox is leading into it with a pair of sitcoms. Hopefully Summer Glau can chase my fears of imminent cancellation away.

Wow. One show I'll actually plan to watch, one I'm Eh about, and two that are on there to be 'date shows' with the hubby.

Maybe there's something more exciting in the new shows? Don't get too excited.
- V (ABC) Premieres: Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 8/7c. Notice that the new show I'm most excited about won't be here until November. From TV Guide :

Lost's Elizabeth Mitchell stars in this reimagining of the 1980s sci-fi miniseries and series as FBI counter terrorism agent Erica Evans. She is the first to discover that, beneath the skin of a presumed friendly visiting alien race, they're more sinister than anyone imagined. Evans' son, Tyler (Logan Huffman), sees the Vs as an opportunity to make mankind unite with a common goal while news anchor Chad Decker (Scott Wolf) wants to advance his career by getting an exclusive interview with the aliens' leader, Anna (Morena Baccarin).

Am I letting nostalgia get in the way of judgment? I loved the original miniseries. Even bought the novelization, and held onto it until college. The diretoor and cast have a lot of geek cred, so I'm hanging onto my high hopes for this one.

- Eastwick (ABC) Premieres: Wednesdays, Sept. 23 at 10/9c From TV Guide :

The producers of this fantasy series about suburban witches, which stars Rebecca Romijn and Lindsay Price, hope the third attempt to bring John Updike's novel to the small screen will be the charm. The big-screen version, The Witches of Eastwick, was a major success in 1987.

I liked the movie ok, but always thought there was more potential here than a 2 hour movie could catch. So I'm going to give this one a shot. And, witches. Fun times.

- FlashForward (ABC) Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 24 at 8/7c From TV Guide :

ABC has high hopes for this series, centered around a bizarre event that allows millions of people to briefly see flashes of the future. What do they see? What does it mean? And should people be worried if they don't have a future? Watch to find out, we don't know, and yes.

The hype around this one reminds me a bit of the hype around Heroes. And Heroes was fun for one season. Ok, for most of one season, they actually lost me about 2 episodes from the end. Maybe ABC has found a similiar spark with this one?

- The Vampire Diaries (The CW) Premieres: Thursday, Sept. 10 at 8/7c From TV Guide :

Brooding high school newcomer Stefan (Paul Wesley) can't get his mind off classmate Elena (Nina Dobrev) — perhaps because the two of them were deeply in love 130 years years ago. Yeah, Stefan is a vampire, and so is his reckless bad-boy brother, Damon (Lost's Ian Somerhalder). This one also features a special guest appearance by massive amounts of fog.

Vamps. They're hot, they're now, and they may be getting close to being overdone. Unlike HBO's True Blood (which you'd think would be marketed to adults only with all that blood and sex) this show is aiming for the high school crowd; think Twilight fans here. Will the show have any appeal outside the 15-18 demographic the network usually aims for? I'll tune in once or twice and give it a shot.

And that's it for me. One new show I've got as a don't-miss, and a few I'll give a shot. There's a few more on cable that look interesting (Stargate Universe being the big one), but again - a lot of yawns across the listings.

Have I missed something? Is there a show out there that you're especially excited about and think I should give a try?

I'm looking at one bright spot out of this. Maybe I'll be able to find time to get to a lot of great books that have been waiting on my TBR pile for far too long.

Can't I just write you something instead?

This week I needed to get together a biography and photo for an organization I belong to.

The biography wasn't that stressful. Actually the toughest part about it was keeping it down to the 100 word maximum. That's about three short paragraphs, or two long ones, if you've never counted. We writers can go on for a very long time about anyone, selves included, so it took a lot of muttering, deleting, and rearranging to fit everything I wanted to say in just 100 words.

The photograph was something I put off as long as I could. Like some others that work at home, I've gotten used to letting my words speak for me, more than my face. I can edit bad words; the skills to edit really bad photos are largely beyond me. But I don't have any pictures of me taken this decade that look like me now. Between weight fluctuations and hair changes, every picture of me I could find looked nothing like what I look like today. So it was time for a photo shoot.

Being on the subject side of a camera intimidates me. It's gotten a bit easier for me since most of the world has gone digital - I know (hope?) that any horrifically bad pictures of me will end up in the virtual trash can without ever being committed to paper or shared in an online album. But even so I'd much rather be the one behind the viewfinder than find myself in the target frame.

Having put it off as long as I could, I ended up enlisting the help of my seven year old daughter last night to play photographer. She's got the eye of an artist (proud mother? who, me? If you could only see this paper doll and clothes she just whipped up without any templates besides the pictures in her mind) and some pretty good skills. The hardest part was getting her to keep snapping away instead of stopping to critique each picture as soon she took it. But we had fun with the impromptu photo shoot. Then more fun laughing over some of the silly pictures she talked me into.

And after some judicious use of red eye removal, we have author photo. (See top of this post.)

It won't win any awards, but it's me. Shiny faced through the powder, crooked smile, frizzy hair and all.

I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'm glad I can forget about the pictures for a while now and go back to what I love - writing words. I know my comfort zone, and being in front a camera isn't part of it. But it also felt good to suck it up last night and get it done. And I've found a new favorite photographer too. Maybe in another decade I'll be ready to let her try it again.

Smallville Addiction

Finding family together time that makes both a 7 year old girly-girl and a 15 year old too-cool-for-his-sister happy is a challenge. There's not much they have in common, other than their gene pool, and even there they seem to be swimming in opposite ends. One is over in the deep end doing dolphin flips and the other is spiking the volleyball over the net and yelling "Eye of the Tiger!" when no one can return it. I'll let you guess which is doing which.

But a month or so ago we stumbled on something that has kept all three of us entertained for an hour a day. Smallville, the television series that tells the story of Clark Kent's teenage years, has given us a happy meeting place.

The violence level is mild enough that my daughter can watch without me worrying about nightmares. Most of the sexual tension is kept to heated looks and the occasional kiss, although there was a Clark-gone-bad episode that my son and I saved for a day it was just the two of us watching.

My son can completely relate to the high school angst and drama. He's old enough to catch some of the nice asides in the dialoge (Clark: If aliens came to Earth, don't you think they'd find someplace a little more exciting than Smallville?)that show up a few times each episode.

My daughter is totally caught up in the Lana / Clark / Chloe love triangle (we're only up to season 2). She doesn't "get" a lot of the inside humor and points, but the relationships are the hook for her.

I'm enjoying the series, even while I'm sitting there laughing at some of the stories. We all laugh together about how many people Clark has saved from car accidents / explosions, and how many episodes in a row someone has said some version of "Clark, it's not your fault." There is little that is subtle about this series. But it has turned into a bit of a character development class, and my son and I especially have had some great conversations about how both script and book authors use some of the same devices - foreshadowing, character development, cliff hangers, plot moving grand revelations.

We're watching the episodes in order(yay Netflix!), and I've resisted the temptation to peek ahead online or watch the current season that is in repeats Mostly I'm just glad I've found something that for an hour a day lets us all do something together, each getting their own bit of enjoyment out of the time.

If you've seen Smallville, what do you think of it? Melodramatic good vs evil, or an entertaining view into the past of one of our favorite superheroes?

Flawed Release Day!

It's here! Today is release day for Flawed, the sensual tale of a princess in dire need of a bit of help and the two shadow elves who fall head over heels for her.

Elves and magic and betrayal and hot, burn-up-the-sheets love - this novella has them all. This is a fantasy for adults, a love story for everyone who ever felt the weight of the world rested in the throw of a d20.

I hope you enjoy the story of Emilia, Rorek, and Jo'el.

Here's a snippet from the opening scene -

Attempting to calm herself from the ugly scene she had fled, she rolled her flushed face against the coolness of the wood. First one side, then the other, before she let the warming surface press against the useless dark rock that rested in her forehead. There was a distant sensation of pressure where the stone met her flesh, an unwanted reminder of her most obvious shortcoming. The stone that should have been a source of great magical power was nothing more than a daily reminder that she was, indeed, as flawed as a princess could be.

A low moan from the room behind her jerked her from her thoughts. Spinning around to find the source, Emilia stared openmouthed in surprise at the scene before her.

Gods alive.

Firelight cast a dim light over a couple near the fireplace. A large male body reclined across the brocade cushions of a finely carved settee, one long leg propped against the back of the small sofa and one braced on the floor. His thighs were spread wide, giving her a clear view of the naked muscled chest that rose from a slender waist. A cream-colored shirt of the finest shadowsilk was unbuttoned across his skin, framing the sculpted muscles and smooth ebony skin in light.

His head was thrown back in abandoned pleasure, allowing shadows to flicker across the planes of his face. A rising flame threw him into light, and then his features were cast again into the shadows. Through the haze of shock she felt a stab of recognition. Rorek Northmark, Lord Magician of Darkknell, the visiting ambassador and blood cousin to King Torek of the Shadow Elf, was sprawled in lusty abandon as she had never seen him before.

I'm giving away a copy of Flawed - this one is open to anyone who comments here or on my blog between now and midnight, July 2nd.

Happy reading!

A Flawed Contest

The hotter it gets outside, the more I want to retreat into my cave. Lock out the world, tuck my legs under me, and type away the hours.

Unfortunately, there is no door on my cave. The real world intrudes often. Usually in the form of a sweetly pleading six year old (six for now - my baby will be seven next week!) or the hubby, who will sprawl on the couch and ask if I'm busy. No dear, never to busy for you.

But they've given me enough quiet time to keep my sanity. That's good enough for me.

I don't have a lot of travel ahead of me this summer. I won't be able to make the trip to DC for the RWA conference in July, and even the family trips to North Carolina and Kentucky that I had considered during the spring never came together. Too many things on my calendar, and not enough free time to string together travel days. A weekend getaway with the kids to Orlando and a short trip up to Alabama looks like it will have to be enough to keep my traveling feet satisfied for this year. But as long as I've got my family, my keyboard, and a book release to look forward to, it's all good to me.
~
Flawed releases next week! Only 7 days until my sexy elves are turned loose on the world. I think the warning that comes with this book says it all :

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex (including m/m and m/f/m), naughty language, some magical sex along with sexual magic, a desperate princess and the men who love her, elves and spells and betrayal oh my! and enough heat to start small fires. Cold drink recommended.

So I've got a question for you. Do you like contests? How about really, really easy ones? I've got a copy of Flawed to give away, and it doesn't even require jumping through flaming hoops to enter.


Really, they don't get much easier than this. Drop me an email at ember @ embercase . com [remove the spaces] before Midnight EST on June 29th. Put the word Flawed in the title, and I'll enter you into a drawing for an ebook copy of Flawed. One entry per, please.

Killing off Mom

Mother’s Day was this past Sunday - Happy (belated) Mothers Day, to all the moms!

Instead of writing this morning, I started to think about mothers in the books I write. I was chagrined to realize there aren’t any.

In Hunting the Huntress, my first release, the heroine’s mother was not in the book. In my next release, Flawed, coming out June 30th (shameless plug) the mother is dead, and the father has remarried to a pretty horrible woman.

In the Christmas novella I just finished, the heroine is an orphan. Sorry Dad, looks like you got to die this time too. She spent several years in the foster care system, so may have had some decent mother figures, but if she did they didn’t make it onto the page.

My current work in progress? You probably saw this coming – the mother is dead. She died before the first page, and rather painfully. It may have made her death a bit easier to know her daughter tried desperately to save her life.

Even in the first book I ever finished, the wretched space opera I’ve since re-titled Cliche on Planet Nine, the mother was dead.

So what does this all say about me, and my mother? Nothing at all, I hope! My mother is a remarkable woman, who I love very much. I think we have a pretty normal mother-daughter relationship. She has supported me in pretty much everything I’ve ever done. I can’t remember that she has even once tried to tell me to play it safe, even though I know some of my ideas and efforts must have made her clench her teeth as she looked the other way.

And she always, always encouraged me to go for my dreams. Her quiet support gave me the confidence I needed to take chances and try things even when the odds were long for success. Things like writing.

So why have I killed off all the mothers in my books? It wasn’t ever a conscious decision. In three years of writing I never thought about it until this morning. As a writer I look for ways to give my characters hard times to learn from, tragedy to overcome, situations that force them to question everything they know and come out a better, stronger person. I guess maybe it speaks to some dark, hidden corner of my mind that I think losing a mother would be one of the hardest losses to face, and not one I want to even think about in my own real life journey.

So to all the moms I have killed of in writing, I am sorry. I’ll have to find a new source of pain to inflict on my heroines, since I sure don’t want to become predictable. And the next mother I write? I’ll try to make sure she is every bit as wonderful , loving, and alive as my own.

Stormy Weather

It’s been Stormy Weather days around here lately, both literally and metaphorically speaking.  Here, take a look :

That’s the tree that used to be in my backyard.  Now, most of it is on my neighbor’s roof – except for the part that is crushing my fence.  All of this thanks to a wind storm that swept through town yesterday, part of a streak of rain, tornados, and hail that has harassed much of the south east this week.  You can imagine the past 24 hours have been more eventful than I like, as we deal with insurance, tree removal companies, and the like.

Stormy weather indeed.  If this is what spring is going to be like, please take me back to my cold and rainy winter.  Or jump me ahead to summer.  Have you seen the sun lately?  Or are the skies just as dark in your corner of the world?

There have been storms in the book world this week as well.  Amazon had a “glitch” (as they are calling it), and a large number of books were removed from their search and best seller lists.  A large number of authors were impacted by this, as their books could no longer be found on Amazon.  That it happened over Easter weekend fed the conspiracy theorists, as well as slowing response times, and it was late Monday before Amazon was ready to release an explanation and begin returning the books to their listings.  I spent a lot of time (too much, really) following along some of the hundreds – thousands? – of online conversations about what was happening.  And came out of it with nothing more than a lot of dissatisfaction at how it was handled, a lot of lost hours, and a feeling that mega-corporations that have too much influence on any part of a market are a bad, bad thing.

And hey – it’s tax day in the US!  Stormy weather indeed, as many people are having a tough time paying for food and a home, never mind sending a check to the government for taxes owed.  If you find yourself in that unfortunate situation, please remember – even if you can’t pay them, you’re doing yourself a favor by filing before deadline.  Putting this particular paperwork off can result in some particularly dark skies on your horizon.

~~

I know that these stormy days will pass, and we’ll soon have bright skies and fairer days.  But until they do, I think I’m going to snitch a piece of candy from the kids Easter basket and bury myself in the Christmas story I’m nearing the end on.  If there are going to be bad days, at least I’ve got chocolate and writing.

Growing up with Fantasy

I grew up with Fantasy. Even before I read my first romance (thank you Louisville Public Library for not stifling the curiousity of a 12 year old when she first found the clench cover) I had fallen in love with Anne McCaffrey, Piers Anthony and Tolkein.

Anne McCaffrey had the most wonderful dragon stories, and opened a world to me I never knew existed. When I first laid eyes on "The White Dragon", I was a goner. I quickly searched out Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, and went looking for more tales of fantasy.

 

I'm not sure how I got from McCaffrey to Anthony, but when I read Piers Anthony's tales of Xanth they took my breath away. I spent many long hours happily lost in a very non-Mundane world.

Less than a year later I finally moved on to Tolkein. I thought myself more than a little in love with Frodo, and dreamed great dreams of going on his adventures. Before we had Orlando Bloom in pointy ears and tights, Frodo was my hero.

It was pretty soon after that I found those clench covers on the library racks. For a while, my love for fantasy was forgotten, and I moved on to more romantic reading. Through middle school and most of high school, I was very happy with my romance novels and "required" literature reading.

Then one day at Books-A-Million during my junior year of high school, I came across this :

I still remember standing there in the bookstore reading the first two chapters.  Buying it, then racing home and staying up until late into the night reading about Tanis and Sturm, Caramon and Raistlin.  It was love from first sight, and the Dragonlance Chronicles became some of my favorite reads as I left high school and went to college.

I’ve read a lot of good fantasy, and more than a little great fantasy, in the years since.  But these 4 series have been some of my most passionate book loves for many years now.  Even today I can reread them and be amazed by the stories these authors could weave, the worlds they could bring to vibrant, captivating life

Every book we love should leave a bit of itself behind after you close the cover.  So it isn’t surprising that I’ve written my first fantasy.  And if you’ve read my previous Samhain release, you won’t be shocked to find that my fantasy world is a bit more sensual – ok, much much more sensual – than the worlds of the authors I read as a preteen and teen. 

Do you still reread the books that you loved when all books were new to you?  And how did they shape the books you love today?

Look for Flawed, by Ember Case, coming June 30th from Samhain Publishing

Flaws

Flaws.  We all have them. 

David Beckham, oh god of Armani underwear,

 

has a thing for skinny blonds with boy haircuts.  Nora Roberts head hops like a Mexican Jumping Bean (although since I still adore her books, is this a flaw or just her style?)  I fuss at my kids if they bother me when I’m trying to work - and man, will seeing Coraline ever give you a complex about that.

But there are flaws, and then there are Flaws.  The heroine of my new book Flawed – coming this summer from Samhain Publishing  – has some pretty serious ones of the capital Flaw flavor.

She’s a princess and heir to the kingdom; life should be pretty good, wouldn’t you think?  But happenings in her world of Elfish magic and court treachery has her backed into a pretty tight corner.  Her magic?  Nonexistent.  Her birthright?  Seems to have deserted her.  And even David Beckham up there wouldn’t be doing anything for her – she’s got a serious problem when it comes to sex.

I think I’ll take my short temper over her set of problems.

Have you got any flaws you want to admit to?  Or maybe, as gamers are often sarcastically saying, they aren’t really flaws, they’re features! 

Ember Case ~ Come Twitter with me

Wind turbine damage and UFO’s

You may have caught this in a “strange events” segment of the news this week.  On Jan 5th, in the small settlement of Conisholme in the UK, a 20m blade “fell” off a wind turbine, and another blade was left mangled by unknown forces.

Nearby residents report seeing “strange flashing tentacle shaped lights” above the wind farm that housed the turbine on the night before the damage happened.

 

 

Was it a UFO?  Or is there a more earthly cause for the damage?  Speculation has ranged from a giant block of ice falling on the blade (there was no sign of impact on the ground that would support this), to an unmanned Stealth bomber flying into the blade (no sign of debris from this either).  And what about the lights in the sky the night before?  Meteors?  Overactive imagination? 

 

The damaged blade has been sent to Germany for testing, and scientists hope to know within days if there is physical proof of the cause.  But what do you think?  Could this be proof that we aren’t alone in the cosmic playground?

Just under a year ago I blogged about another mysterious sighting, that time in Texas.  Stephenville Lights was a website started to track the information about that sighting as it was studied – it’s an interesting site to check out if you’re curious about what happened after the mainstream media went away to bigger and fresher stories.  I wonder if the people of Conisholme will start their own site as the story progresses.

What do you think of this latest sighting?  Another odd but not so mysterious sighting?  Or further proof that we share our universe with beings other than ourselves?

The crowded cave

I've been in my writing cave this week. It's been a productive one - Flawed is off to wiser minds, although I know the final scene is going to need more than a little tweaking when it comes back. But it gave me my usual emotional rush to get to The End - and then ten seconds later to hear that brooding voice in my head say "what's next".

I told that voice to go talk to itself, and get back to me when it has something.

Because when I looked up from my writing, I found my "cave" had become a disaster. I took over the front room of the house a bit ago, filled it with book cases (and books), a desk, my comfy green chair, and labeled it library. Unfortunately the furniture fairy seems to have declared it a breeding zone. Right now there are a desk, a white board, two couches, six chairs, three tables - no wait, four - an easel, a rolling laptop cart, and an extra lage dog bed taking up almost every inch of floor space. (I just found another chair - seven chairs.) There are also a rather large dog and a kitten determined to torment him in here.

As soon as her morning cartoons are over, I'm guessing my daughter will find her way in here as well.

Quiet, soothing and peaceful, my library is not. It's more than just a bit crowded. So today, that voice in my head is going to have to keep quiet just a bit longer. It's going to be a cleaning day in the cave.

What do you have planned this weekend?

The Great Pumpkin

It’s less than two weeks to Halloween, and the season of the spirit has taken over our house.

 

Pre-kids (PK), Halloween was another reason to go out with friends.  Almost 10 years in the bar/restaurant biz had given me a party view of the holiday.  It was a fun night to work – costumes were encouraged, the more extravagant the better, as long as they weren’t going to dip into the broccoli cheese soup at the wrong time.  And heels were out, since they’re a no-no on often slippery kitchen and bar floors.  But I perfected the gypsy, the pirate, and a rather unimaginative one year when the date caught me unprepared.  Once work was over, it was a blast to head out to the parties still dressed in our holiday garb, and get to play at being very grown up kids for the night.  PK Halloween was all about the parties.

Halloween after kids (AK) is a whole different kind of day.  It becomes a several week event of decorating (“The bones have been placed by the gravestones with care, in hopes the Great Pumpkin soon will be there... “), pumpkin patches, and costume shopping.  AK, it’s hard to go into Target without the pleading starting.  “Can we get some more decorations?  We still need to get our candy!  I don’t like my costume; I want a new one.”  We’re avoiding Target for the rest of the month.

This is the first year my daughter has really liked the getting scared part though.  She’s found “Goosebumps” on one of the kids channels, and she begs every night to be allowed to stay up and watch it.  She’s only 6, and I was worried the first few episodes that this slightly spooky show could lead to some nightmares, so we compromised.  Record at night, watch in the light of the day.  And she absolutely loves getting just a bit freaked out.  Several of the neighbors do dark-and-spooky for Halloween, and in the past she’s preferred to skip those houses.  I think this year she’s going to love them.

So our countdown to the big day has begun.  How will you be spending the scariest night of the year?

Winner – “Toy” giveaway

Through the magic of Random.org

the winner of the “Toy” book giveaway is

 

Congratulations!