Michele Hauf's Blog, page 8

These Are A Few...

What qualifies something as a Favorite Thing?  Well, it's something that makes you smile, be happy, and/or feel good.  It's something you look at every day, or use often.

Dance
For starters, every morning I wake up and look at this picture on my wall.  Dance by Alphonse Mucha.  I love anything and everything by Mucha, but this one is my favorite for the movement, the curvy lines and colors.  Makes me happy!





Bodum
Cups can make me happy, especially these from Bodum.  They are double-walled and insulated, and so delicate to hold and pretty to look at.  Clasping a cup of hot tea doesn't burn you, but warms your fingers nicely.  So simple and not fussy.




Smelly Stuff
I love handmade soaps and perfumes and body lotions.  I try to find all natural products, but sometimes I stray when the fragrance is too good to resist.  I have many different places online where I order this stuff, but only a few months ago I found a great place that sells all different brands.  A one-stop shop!  The Soap Box Company has some of my fav brands: Indigo Wild, Villainess (Lipstick Lost is a fav scent), Smell Bent.  And a few new ones I love: I Smell Good (their CleanCream rocks), Tru Melange, SuperBad, and Naiad, to name a few.  You can order tester vials of perfume oils for cheap ($2 - 4).  And don't even get me started on the delicious smells you'll find in all the products.  Their shipping is reasonably priced and they ship quick.  I promise if you check them out, they'll go on your list of Fav Things too.

Apocalyptica
I mention these amazingly talented cellists often because they never cease to blow me away.  Their range is vast, from classical to pop rock, to hard and heavy metal.  Who else can shred on the cello while doing the rock n' roll headbang without getting their hair tangled in the strings?  These guys!  Spend a while at iTunes or YouTube going through their stuff, and I promise you'll find something to love.  They currently have a PledgeMusic campaign going to produce a photo book and have some great incentives.  I signed on to get the digital book.  Can't wait.

More Favs

Electronics
I treated myself to the iPad this year.  I lurve it!  I can honestly say I use it 75% of the time for fun and games, but I am slowly gaining some 'work' apps.  I love the Pages app, which allows me to transfer my Word files onto the iPad.  And I've decreased my paper magazine subscriptions this year and am now getting most digitally.  I love The Daily, which comes, erm...daily.  ;-)  A little tabloid-ish at times, but a great way to start the morning (with tea, of course!).  The Target app has allowed me to cancel my Sunday paper, because I was basically getting that for the ads.  And Flipboard allows me to compile Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, and other blog-crawls into one magazine-like format that I go through every morning as well.  Really handy!  Occasionally I'll watch a show on Netflix while lying in bed, and well, there are some great games, including Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends.  I've mentioned before, I'm addicted to Pocket Frogs, which is my next Favorite Thing.

Pocket Frogs!
This simple little game requires no skill or talent that I can determine.  It is simply tracking a frog from one lily pad to the other, along the way, collecting cash, prizes, and the occasional opportunity to breed your frog with another.  You must collect them all and there are tens of thousands.  It will keep me busy for years, I'm sure (especially since, when upgrading to iOS I lost the game and had to restart).  I love my frogs!  I play them morning, noon, and night. Yes, I'm addicted.  Got a problem with that?

Trader Joes' Sugar Free Dark & Milk Chocolate Covered Almonds
Yeah, I know.  You're thinking sugar free?  Yuck.  But these are excellent, and have a very sweet taste.  Even the hubby steals these from the cupboard, and that's saying a lot since he's developed a very distinct radar that warns him away from my sugar-free stuff.  I have them with tea as a daily treat.



Etsy
This one is a little harder to define, since it encompasses the entire Etsy site.  I discovered this great shopping site for handmade articles, and I visit frequently.  If you're looking for something one-of-a-kind or slightly not the norm, check Etsy.  I love the gothic stuff, and sometimes can lose an good hour just searching for cool things.  And if you like deals, subscribe to Heartsy, which features daily deals for Etsy buyers.  Sometimes you can get up to 60% off at a seller's site.  I've been filling my Xmas list using Heartsy for months now.  :-)

My Favorite Things!

I've been doing this for years because I love it when Oprah has her favorite things show and the viewers go wild over the gifts she gives them.  Now that the Oprah show is no more, someone has to carry the torch.  All week I'll be listing my 2011 Favorite Things.  You can pretend I'm giving them away to all the screaming blog readers.  ;-)  (Just don't be disappointed when this stuff doesn't arrive in your mailbox.)  But if you follow along all week, I may have a giveaway at the end!

Tea!
I've become addicted to tea this year as I gave up sugar and I think my taste buds altered so they no longer taste tea as just hot water with sticks soaked in it.  My current fav is a blend from Teavana: White Ayurvedic Chai Tea mixed with Samurai Chai Mate Tea.  I have it twice a day.  It's super delicious!  The Teavana.com website has some great stuff to pick from, but don't rule out The Republic of Tea, either.  My favs from that place are currently: Peppermint Chocolate and Hot Apple Cider tea.  Num!


Skull Rings that Sparkle
I love anything that sparkles.  But make it a skull and I am so all over that.  I got one like the blue one at left in black at Target recently.  Halloween section.  Only $7.  Fun, eh?  Would love a fist full of skulls, but I'll take it easy.  ;-)


Not Your Daughter's Jeans
Okay, this one is just for the ladies.  This year I discovered the best fitting jeans.  Ever. Seriously, I have never found jeans that simply fit so well as these.  I stalk Nordstrom's Rack, where they sell them for half price, and the irregular pairs are sold 75% off.  $30 for a pair of jeans?  Oh yeah!  And since I've lost some weight and am now wearing the same size I wore in high school, I can justify spending a little more for something that makes me happy.

Tumblr.comI know, it's a website!  But I'm having so much fun with Tumblr.  It's just like a blog, but more visual and so easy to use.  I've created a Beautiful Creatures Tumblr site where I post pictures that inspire my books and my world.  Follow me!
And stop back in tomorrow for more of my favorite things!

It's a freebie!

THE SIN EATER'S PROMISE should now be available free whereever you can download/purchase books online.  I've seen it at $0 at B&N, Kobo, and Amazon.  This is part of the Of Angels And Demons mini series, and the overall Beautiful Creatures world.  It is a stand-alone story.  Just a quick look into the life of a sin eater and a soul bringer.  The soul bringer did appear in Angel Slayer, but don't worry, you don't need to read that story to get this story.  This was originally published in THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF PARANORMAL ROMANCE 2.
Go forth and download!

Literal Addiction's Scrabble Scramble

Sponsored by Literal Addiction & Book Monster Reviews.  Here's a link to my website, where you'll find the answer with a little sleuthing.  Have fun! 

The Three Musketeers - a review

[image error] So, I just got back from The Three Musketeers.  If you've read my blog or my books, you probably know this is my all-time favorite story, so I had high hopes for the movie.  But as well, I went into it with lower expectations because when you love a story so much the smallest infraction can really set you off.

Overall?  I'd give the movie about a 6 (out of 10), and say it's fun entertainment and worth the look.  It followed the Dumas story for overall structure, but deviated often.  Though I was surprised, for the most part, the characters—at least the musketeers—were true to form.  Advertising will lend us to believe this is a story for a 'new generation'. Yeah? That's an excuse for making stuff up and adding it to an already great classic.  Now I wouldn't expect the umpteenth remake of this story to not add some updates and try to appeal to a younger more modern market, so like I said, it's a good few hours of entertainment.

But wait!  Musketeers in the sky?  Uh-huh.  And while the idea of an airship in the early 17th century seems preposterous they did explain it well.  But seriously, there was far too much air-shippery for me.  Musketeers belong on horses wielding swords and pistols, not soaring through the air with a dash of steampunkery.  There was one pitiful horse (as D'Artagnan's horse, Buttercup, should be).

The sets and costumes were amazing.  Really.  I found I lost the beginnings of conversations because when a new scene started my eyes were taking in the fabulous sets and admiring the gorgeous costumes.  Best dressed award?  You would think Milady or the Queen should take this one, but it was, hands down, the Duke of Buckingham.  So nice.  Have I mentioned how much I love a well-dressed fop?  ;-)

And speaking of the Duke!  Orlando Bloom's version of the Duke was excellent.  Num!  One of my top three characters in this movie version.  He had the entitled, roguish—yet fashionable—dictator act down pat.  Give the man a pompadour and a dastardly moustache and he rocked it!  I generally find Bloom a bit dull on the silver screen, but this was one of his best roles yet.  (They gave hint there could be a sequel.  Bring on more Bloom!)

The King and Queen.  Often they are portrayed as young and naive, which they were—to a degree.  Yet the King always gets played as a foppish toddler, and nothing new this time around, although, after an initial tantrum, the actor managed a pretty good grasp on the role and I have to say he rescued the King from being a complete idiot.  The Queen was pretty, but cast aside in a small role when she should have mastered much more of the story.  Ah well.

Richelieu was played by Christoph Waltz, who I have never seen in films before, though I know he's won awards.  He was fine as the cardinal who would be King, but when he answered questions with 'yep' that tossed me out of the story completely.  Certainly no match for Charlton Heston's version.  The captain of the cardinal's guard, Jussac was lackluster and hardly the match to the musketeers he should be, giving up the fight too easily at all turns.  And that leads us to Rochefort.

Rochefort is one of my favorite villains because he's one of those men you can shoot and stab and do all sorts of nasty things to and he keeps bouncing back.  Mads Mikkelsen, who played him, did an admirable job, but I got the immediate impression he was channeling Michael Wincott's Rochefort (from the awful Disney version).  In a match, Wincott would win, hands down.  Mikkelsen did such a good job channeling his fellow actor that by the time they got to the swordfight on the roof of Notre Dame, I was seeing clear images of The Crow in mind.  Remember when Eric Draven battled Top Dollar on the roof?  It ended with Wincott getting impaled by a gargoyle.  I was waiting for a gargoyle impalement during this scene (and there were gargoyles involved), but alas.

Now, to the musketeers.  D'Artagnan.  First, and the most annoying thing about the entire movie: WTF was with D'Artagnan's hair?  I couldn't decide if it was a wig or Logan's natural hair.  It never moved, never changed from the left part with those frustratingly hair-sprayed bangs, yet always messily tousled.  It drove me nuts!  Why can't historical flicks just let their male actors grow out their hair and go with it? And nix the hair spray!  Musketeers don't do hair spray.  They just don't.  All right, that said, Logan Lerman did an admirable job as D'Artagnan, but I suspect the role would have been more exciting with a more worldly actor in his place, to portray the naive yet adventurous man who would become a musketeer.  There was no passion or excitement in his eyes.  Lines seemed forced, and his flirtations with Constance fell flat.  And Constance, well, meh.  Rachel Welch spoiled it for all future actresses who take on the role.

Athos, the brooding, alcoholic, wise man of the group was played by Matthew Macfadyen (looking tired and puffy; ugg).  Meh.  Why do most actors play Athos as so morose?  Take a look at Oliver Reed's portrayal in the 1970s flicks.  Well done, displaying all aspects of the character's personality, from miserable sod to laughing father figure to D'Artagnan, and a lover with a cruelly broken heart as well.

[image error] Aramis.  Aramis!  Luke Evans, I think I love you.  I'd never heard of him before this movie, but the look of him made me think he had been perfectly cast.  And he was.  Though I wish they would have shown a bit more of Aramis's amorous side.  Pout.  He balanced the musketeer's religious aspirations with his quiet strength well, but where was the flirt?  Sadly underused in this movie.  But then it was focused on action and not so much on romance or emotions, for that matter.  (And can I just say: after Milady did the jump—trying not to spoiler here—where was Aramis with the sign of the cross?  That moment called for that simple action.)

I'm always worried about Porthos.  Actors tend to make him the bumbling fool of the foursome.  Not so.  Porthos is a giant, a powerhouse who takes out men with his bare hands instead of a sword.  Yet he also likes to be a kept man; taking gifts from rich women and shopping is one of his favorite past-times.  The man likes to look good.  They nailed it with Porthos in this version.  Ray Stevenson is another actor I've never heard of.  Who is this big, sexy hunk of a man? I can't wait to see him in movies again.

And I've left Milady for last because well—ugg.  I have a lot of dislike for Mila Jovovich after she annihilated the role of Joan d'Arc in The Messenger by screaming through the entire movie.  So I went into this flick knowing I'd have to endure her, and endure her I did.  Great costumes, gorgeous hair, but eh.  Faye Dunaway, where are you?

Overall, a movie worth seeing.  If you're a fan of the story, know it's going to piss you off a few times (Milady and the musketeers working together to steal a treasure in Venice? Aggh!), and yet it will surprise you and keep you interested throughout.

Now, a few months ago I blogged about my cast picks for the movie featuring all French actors (contest no longer valid).  Some day!  Why haven't the French remade this one lately?

Will I see this one again?  Not on the big screen, but probably rent it or buy the DVD so I can fast-forward the the good parts with the Duke, Aramis and Porthos.

Let me know what you think after you've seen it!

A Vampire For Christmas blog tour.

Starting October 17, all four authors in the anthology A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS are going on a mini blog tour! At each stop on the #VampXmas tour, Caridad Pineiro, Laurie London, Alexis Morgan and I will be answering questions about our novellas and giving away cool swag, including a signed copy of A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS, one of our other books and an ornament. Please join us.
Here's the mini-blog tour schedule:10/17 Vampire Book Club
10/19 The Qwillery
10/25 Tynga's Reviews
11/4   All Things Urban Fantasy
11/12 Literal Addiction

Reviews are good karma

Dearest Readers!  I'm not an author who is out there telling people to do this or that to help my sales, and I still don't want to be that kind of author.  I put my work out there.  I hope you all enjoy it and come back for more.

That said, I do want you all to know how much I appreciate it when you take the time to review my books at Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, etc.  As well, now that I have a few self-published titles out there, I'm learning reviews are essential.

Did you know that there are some awesome blogs out there that promote self-pubbed titles, such as Daily Cheap Reads?  But in order to even qualify to be featured on a site like that my book has to have so many reviews at Amazon.  Usually five reviews is the bare minimum.  (Some sites require a certain amount of 4 or 5 star ratings!)  So while I can put the book out there, the only way I can get reviews is just to hope, or to frankly, ask.  And maybe, as a reader, you're not aware that promotion sites like that require the review minimum, so that's why I wanted to tell you all about that today.

So, if you happen to spend a little time at Amazon (like me!) and you really liked one of my books, I'd appreciate a review.  Doesn't have to be long.  A sentence still counts as a review.  And I'm not asking for a certain score.  That's up to you.

Particularly, if you've read CRAVE THE NIGHT or FOLLOW THE NIGHT, I could really use some review karma.  I promise to send good vibes back your way in thanks. :-)

The UK cover of A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS is GORGEOUS! &nbs...

The UK cover of A VAMPIRE FOR CHRISTMAS is GORGEOUS!  The Mills & Boon office made an animated gif of the cover.  Now doesn't this make you want to put 'vampire' on your Christmas list?  (For some reason, the animation part stops working after I've uploaded, so you have to click on the cover to see it work.)

Cruel Enchantments

Finally, Bree and Rev's story is available in digital (and print soon) in the CRAVE THE NIGHT anthology.  I knew this story even as I was writing Her Vampire Husband.  Knew the Sabrina Kriss and Revin Parker would get together.  It's a story of addiction and courage and of finding the one made for you and keeping him, no matter the challenges.    When writing I keep pics of the faces who inspire me for my characters, so here's Rev:



And here's Sabrina Kriss:

If you've read Her Vamp Hubbie, I think Rev appeared briefly, and he works on the Rescue Project that Creed formed to rescue vampires from the werewolf sporting dens—but he gets caught, and that's where the story starts.  Bree was carefree and sexy in Her Vamp Hubbie, and she hasn't changed, but we learn more about her quest to find her Intended, which is a Faery form of destined mate.Blu makes a quick appearance, as well as Creed!
For buy links, check the book page, or Swell Cat Press