Michele Hauf's Blog, page 22

Make your own collage

Someone posted on Twitter about this site, and I just spent some fun time going through it.  You can create your own collages, using thousands of images.  It's a quick learn, and I did one for FOREVER VAMPIRE.  This may become addictive!



Welcome to Polyvore! by Michele Hauf featuring platform pumps shoes

The Sin Eater's Promise

Sin eater, Desdenova Fleetwood dreamed of falling in love—but knew it could never happen to her. When the mysterious soul bringer, Blackthorn Regis, demands she give up her livelihood, the two question their very reason for living—and loving.

So let me tell you a little about my short story, found in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE 2, which is showing up in stores right about now (it's already out in the UK).  First, ever since I started noticing the Mammoth books, I really wanted to be in one!  Then, after pining for a while, I got an email from the fab editor of those books, Trisha Telep, asking me to write a story.  Yes!  And I actually had a character in mind that I wanted to explore further—a sin eater named Desdenova Fleetwood.

I wanted to keep the story in my Beautiful Creatures world because that just makes sense.  If you like this short story, then you might like my longer stories.  And if you like my longer stories, you might like to check out the shorter ones as well.  I've had this character in my brain for years, but just never had the right story for her.  But I also knew I only wanted to show a scene from her life, so it wouldn't be a long story.

So, who to pair her with?  That came rather easily, since I had just finished writing Angel Slayer, and knew that I would someday like to do more with the soul bringer, Blackthorn Regis.  (I lurve that dude, fancy vest, and all.)  Again, I never felt he would have a full-length story, and I wasn't even sure he could have a relationship, because of his job.  But turns out, he was looking for someone to love.

Now, the story is sweet.  Just a kiss.  Really, it's not long enough for anything more, but also, these two really need to go slowly.  This is the beginning of their relationship, and I wanted to leave it there.  They may show up in a later book as cameos, who knows.

The thing that really surprised me, after I'd finished writing this story, and sort of looked over it as a whole, was this: it's got some weirdly moral and religious undertones to it (at least, when you compare it to my other work).  If you had the ability to take away a person's sins, would you do it?  Would you have a right to do so?  I explore that a bit.  Actually, it just happened that way after I put these two characters together.  Hadn't planned to get into the deep stuff, but it's there, and well, I hope you like the story.  It's a short read, and there are dozens more stories in this anthology that I'm sure are excellent.  I haven't seen an author copy yet, so I don't know the other authors who are in it.  But heck, I recommend it for my story alone.  ;-)

A free day

The beginning of a new week, and...I'm not sure what to do with my work day.  I had intended to let a mss sit for the month of October while I got other things done, but now the characters from that mss are buzzing in my ear, so I may pick it up again.  And as for other things, I'm not sure what to work on really.  This is a first!  Usually I have so many ideas buzzing in my brain (and I do have a lot of ideas I could start on) but none are particularly yelling loud enough to be noticed.  I d...

Further adventures in self-publishing

A few posts below this I reported that I was self-publishing My Lady Madness, which had formerly been published by Kensington in 1998.  I explained why and the process of getting the printed book into digital file to edit.  So here's what happens after that.

I finished editing the book to a standard I was comfortable with.  As I'd mentioned, my writing has improved and changed over the years, so I wanted to correct some purple stuff, but overall I wanted to leave the story as it stood, which I...

Final Cover

Here it is!  I didn't end up using any of the previous pics I'd put up here when asking opinions on the cover.  I just happened upon this one and it fit perfectly.  This story should be available soon from Smashwords, and I'm going to look into putting it up directly at Amazon.


Here's the back cover blurb (the setting is 1745, France):  She is Sabine Bassange—an exquisite young woman with hair of gold and vivid eyes.  But behind those striking eyes, lies a deep, painful secret.  Many say she...

He reminds me a lot of my hero, Vail, in this pic. ...

He reminds me a lot of my hero, Vail, in this pic.  Feathers, spikes, slicked back hair, and dark eyeliner.

Dancing!

Another season of Dancing With the Stars got started last night, and I was there, glued to the set.  As usual, I give my picks and comments on the celebrities (I know so few this year!).

Audrina Patridge: I don't know who this chick is.  She's famous for being on some reality show?  Eh.  She didn't do badly.  She'll stick around until mid-season, possibly later.

Brandy:  I remember Brandy.  But who cares?  Maksim is her partner!  And you all know I love Maks.  Fingers crossed she stays until th...

Assistant of the day

This is why I don't get much done on some days.  Now, if I could just teach Maxwell to spell check.

Read Dracula next month!

Just want to get you all prepared for October.  At Bite Club we're reading DRACULA, and celebrating the story all month with The Dracula Event.  So if you've always wanted to read it, or have been meaning to reread it, join us over at Bite Club.  If you have a Kindle, you can download a version free from Amazon.  We'll be featuring authors and bloggers with their favorite quotes about Dracula, and might even have some giveaways.  My favorite version is the annotated one by Leonard Wolf.  I th...

The Three Musketeers

I'm so excited that they're remaking The Three Musketeers yet again.  This is my all-time favorite story.  I love the 1974 version starring Michael York.  The Disney version was a bit lame, but it did have Michael Wincott as Rochefort.  Here's a link to a great blog about period movies that has the cast list.  Yay!
Orlando Bloom plays the Duke of Buckingham.  Double yay!