Got my first official review of Archive of Fire, and it's a good'n. I'm pleased, as you'll see.

a little nookie

Archive of Fire is now available for Nook, which I always want to type NoOk for some reason.

Anyhoo, go forth and get a little Nookie, courtesy of me...

Plus, here's a little bonus scene to tempt you:

As Aidan passed by Deidre to enter the house, she caught his hand and said, “You’re really something, you know that?”

Her skin glowed from her new tan and her pale blue eyes sparkled in the sun. Aidan gave her a slow smile. “Are you flirting with me, Deidre?”

“What would you say if I was?”

His smile widened and he squeezed her fingers. “I’d say it was about time.”

Marc padded barefoot into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. He pulled out a carton and shook it. “Out again?  I’m going to have to get a part-time job just to keep you in milk.”

“Very funny,” Aidan said as he closed the sliding glass door behind him.

Marc squinted at him. “What are you grinning on about?”

Aidan shook his head and tried to frown. “Nothing.”

“Riiight,” Marc drawled, gesturing at Deidre with the milk carton.

Aidan threw his empty water bottle at him, and Marc’s laughter followed Aidan down the hall.

electric spec

Today launches our seventh year of Electric Spec. 

I'm often asked why I continue to do it. My answer? For the damn love of the thing. Yes, the slush can be overwhelming. Last minute tech details frustrate me no end. But I've learned so much and there's no greater joy than giving a new writer his or her first publication (which is happening today, by the way!) We have a good reputation in the industry, I think, and we're getting better known all the time. And no, we make no money. It's our way of giving back to an industry, books and magazines, especially of the speculative fiction kind, that gives us so much joy.

Today we have a new issue! Here's to Dave and Lesley, fellow editors, and here's to another great year! I'm privileged to be a part of it.

grave tells guest post

Today's post is over at Grave Tells. They gave me a great review of Lost Prince and now have Archive of Fire in their hot little hands. Here's hoping...

Anyway, go see what I have to say about writing demons. (I mean writing actual demons, not the demons of writing.)

always a story

Because I can't do anything normal without having some sort of story attached... sigh. Today is my baby girl's birthday. She's ten. Yesterday was the party. We went ice skating at the mall and got pizza and everyone had a blast, thanks very much. But it's been blowing like a muthafucka in Colorado, and cold, damn cold, too. Well, the air is warm. The wind is fucking cold.

I looked, well, cute. I had a cute top on and a cute little wool jacket cuz I was having a Fat Tuesday party later and I only had a chance to dress once. I couldn't find my mittens though so the guy loaned me these.

Adorableness, huh?

I told him I liked them and he said they were highly coveted in all quarters, so I resigned myself to giving back my new little friends at the end of the party. I dutifully sent my kid back with the mittens and a tip.

And they guy let me keep the mittens.

But that's not the funny part. The boys (son and friend) said:

kid    The skating rink guy thought you were single, Mom,  and gave you the mittens because he wants to ask you on a date.

me    Uh huh. I'm sure the tip had nothing to do with it.


kid    No, mom. He did! You should at least go give him a kiss for the mittens.

me    ????

me    Cuz your dad would love that. He loves when I go give other guys kisses.

kid    On the cheek, I mean!

me    Cuz your dad loves when I give other guys kisses on the cheek.

The funniest bit to me is that my son is now learning that shit like this happens to me. Like, often.


Two interviews of note.

Electric Spec Blog

My friend Aaron Ritchey, who also has a kick ass book coming out.

books in the wild

Went out last night and heard a little music from the Acme Tribute Band, that was fun. Mixed my alcohol though. Not so much fun, especially on a salad. I also donated a copy of my book to the Juniper library and promised to come back and do a fireside talk whenever they ask. That would be fun.

I also had a long talk with the bookseller, the only one in Grand County. We talked about the state of publishing, indie vs publisher, how small bookstores are struggling, people coming in and taking pictures of barcodes on the back of books so they can order from Amazon. It's my feeling these niche shops are important to our industry. Avis has a website on which you can order any book. Her discount isn't as deep as Amazon of course, which she told me apologetically, but I said I'd be ordering books through her. Grand Lake is my home (one of them) and I want the town whole and healthy. A bookstore is essential to that. Besides, her store is adorable and has cookbooks! Yay!

I am, as usual, on the fence. I like reading onscreen on my iPad and I like reading actual books. I like my wallobooks in my office.

I love that people can toss their books out into the world and see if they stick, but I'm also annoyed because by far most of them are flooding the market with underpriced drivel and driving down prices for good books.

Sigh. It's complicated and tough to get ahead in the industry. But then, it's always been that way. There's one thing that hasn't changed.

today in publishing and finance

From PayPal to a friend/publisher:

addendum, this is from BOOKSTRAND, an eBook publisher, to a friend/publisher/writer: 

Dear Publisher,

We were informed by PayPal, without notice, and by our credit card processing company, that we are required to remove all titles at BookStrand.com with content containing incest, pseudo incest, rape, and bestiality, effective immediately.

We request that you immediately log into your account and unpublish all titles that contain the restricted content. If you have uploaded titles containing restricted content and do not unpublish these titles as we are requesting, we will deactivate your entire publisher account, which will remove all your titles from sale.

The "forbidden content" rules include:

•  Pedophilia in any size, shape, or form.
• Any form of sex with minors or any character under eighteen years old.
• Sex with a young character still in high school or using variations of "teenager" or "barely turned" 18 or 19 for sexual titillation.
• Hatred for characters based on race/ethnicity or religion.
• Hatred or bashing of gays/lesbians.
• Titles with covers that show male or female genitalia, butt cracks, or the female nipple.
• Any combination of incest or sexual acts involving an immediate family member.
• Pseudo incest or sexual acts with parents or siblings ("step" or "foster") for the purposes of titillation.
• Rape for the purposes of titillation.
• Scenes of non-consensual bondage or non-consensual sado-masochistic practices.
• Bestiality with naturally occurring animals.- Sex with non-animated corpses.
• Snuff.
• Scat play (sexual acts involving urination and defecation).
• Harmful content such as instructions on how to make a bomb, etc. 

My comments:

Okay. Scat? Rape? Snuff? All ick. Don't like it. I don't even really like the whole bondage/psuedo rape scene, though plenty of folks are into it and as one writer brought up in our G+ discussion, all D/s play involves at least a slight edge of non-consent. As for bombs and... and ETC??? ECT??? Etc is a pretty damn vague rule. But lets try to take it in the vein in which it was intended. No bomb instructions. Chekc. But how about detailing how to load your gun?  Or what if someone pushes someone else off a cliff? What if they push a whole bunch of somebodies?? Oh I know, what about a thriller in which someone steals the nuclear codes or hacks into CIA or outsmarts a Navy Seal--Oooo, or  gay people marrying, thereby ruining the institution of marriage for the rest of us!!

This is how it starts, people.  

What's next? No M/F/M or M/M? Or how about no sex at all. Yeah. Let's all just pretend we were all immaculately conceptioned.


And really, who the fuck is PayPal (and this mysterious credit card company which I'm guessing is Mastercard since everytime I log into their account I'm offered a PayPal Mastercard) to decide what's worth selling? Seriously. Company accounts are being suspended over this. PayPal is largely unregulated and runs rampant; it doesn't take much Googling to work that out. (go ahead, I'll wait) Anyone who builds reputable online payment systems eschews PP. I have personally heard of money disappearing from accounts. (You want to constantly move  your money from PayPal to your bank account, btw. Consider it along the vein of backing up your work.)

Okay. I'm going to write my space opera now. Guess what? In my WIP one person is leading another around by a collar and chain. Against her will. Damn. It'll never sell. 


Not through PayPal, anyway.