Cindy Lynn Speer's Blog, page 84

Please welcome Tina Smith, author of Wolf Sirens…

Today’s guest is Tina Smith, author of the Wolf Sirens series. I’ve posted both of her covers…aren’t they lovely? (You all know by now what a sucker I am for covers.) Tina will be awarding jewelry in theme of her books (wolf charms, charm bracelets etc), ThreeD book marks in shifter themes (Wolves, tigers, panthers [...]

We’re in the top 100…

Kind of cool…alright, the blog’s pretty low, but it’s nifty to be included! An infographic by the team at CouponAudit .

Asking About Asking

I finally sat down and watched Amanda Palmer doing a TED Talk called The Art of Asking. TED talks are awesome. I watch them fairly often…they are about the bigger ideas and give lots of food for thought. The TED talk with Amanda Palmer is really wonderful and heart felt. And she talks about the [...]

Shah Wharton is our guest today!

This post is to prove it, yes…and to put up pictures while I wait for a technical difficulty (Apparently my gmail sends Google Drive requests to spam. Yay. And I have no memory banks…so I completely forgot about this.) EDIT: Difficulty has passed! Now you have an awesome interview to read! I kind of feel [...]

Book Blast: A Bloom in Winter by T.J.Brown

Hello! Today’s featured author is T.J. Winter, author of Somerset Abbey: A Bloom in Winter. Here’s a blurb: After Prudence’s desperate marriage and move to London, sisters Rowena and Victoria fear they have lost their beloved friend forever. Guilt-ridden and remorseful, Rowena seeks comfort from a daring flyboy and embraces the most dangerous activity the [...]

It’s not all swashbuckling and travel, you know.

So, in 2004 I started writing a book. I wrote 80,000 words, but got stopped, and tried to fix it by adding a subplot. The subplot made things messy, and wrong, and I stayed stopped. In 2004 I’d not written a lot of the things I have written now, such as The Chocolatier’s Wife. I’m [...]

Tuesday Top Ten: Authors I would Automatically Buy…

Patricia Briggs: The first book I ever picked up of her’s was Dragon’s Blood…I got it as a review copy (The review is here: http://www.sfsite.com/06a/db153.htm) and fell in love. When I read her Mercy Thompson series it was confirmed that I’d found a favorite new author. Janet Evanovich: Her books are always pure escapism. Funny [...]

Travel Love: Historic Roscoe, Ohio

I’m finally getting around to blogging about a short trip I took to Roscoe Village. http://historicroscoevillage.com/erie... We went in September 2012. It really is a nice walk…well paved and comfortable. When we got there we went to the Canal boat right away. That was the main reason why we went, we wanted to ride the [...]

Top Ten Favorite Charatcers

Oh, this Tuesday Top Ten is exquisite.

I shall do my favorite characters in Fantasy and SF…

1. Mercy Thompson, by Patricia Briggs (The Mercy Thompson series). She’s tough and vulnerable at the same time…I love the fact that she’s also slightly off kilter, being both a VW Mechanic and a Shifter…not a werewolf, but a coyote. Just so much interesting character development, there…

2. Killashandra Ree, by Anne McCaffrey (Crystal Singer trio). I always loved the idea of “singing” crystals to be able to cut them correctly. She really changes through the stories, and even though I don’t remember much about the books…it’s been a long time…her name was the first that came up.

3. Antryg Windrose, by Barbara Hambly. (Dark Mage, Silicon Tower, etc) I have always had a fondness for him…he’s a wonderfully complex character, strong, charming, brilliant, and probably more than a little mad, with a dark past. Pretty much perfect.

4. Sandtiger, by Jennifer Roberson. (The Tiger and Del novels, Sword Danger, etc.) I couldn’t decide between him and Del, really…both of them are awesome. Del is cool, calm and the brains of the group, Tiger is macho and funny and weak willed but so dedicated. They both become so much better people as the stories go along. And maybe that’s what makes him slightly more my favorite…Del is someone I’d like to be a little like someday, Tiger is someone I would like to drink with.

5. Gerald Tarrant, C.S. Friedman (The Coldfire Trilogy) Do you like heroic darkness? Those mysterious men who may have done Terrible Things yet still seem redeemable? No one beats Gerald Tarrant. I find him fascinating.

6. Yvaine, Neil Gaiman. (Stardust.) She is a bit more powerful in the books than even in the movie, strong and purposeful and a little snarky. You really do know, in the end, who the stronger one in the relationship is…she’s really quite nifty.

7. Thursday Next, Jasper Fforde. (Lost in a Good Book, The Eyre Affaire…) She’s witty, practical, and someone whose job is to travel into books. She also has a streak of kindness that makes her charming…interesting character, interesting job. What could be better?

8. Sam Vimes, Terry Pratchett. (Discworld) My favorite detective, too…he’s also witty, smart…worked himself up through the ranks. Not comfortable with his lofty position, but a good man who does what’s needed.

9. Mara of Acoma, by Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist. (Empire series.) She starts off as a simple woman and grows in strength and character…you cheer her on as she develops. Such a great character.

10. Morgaine, by C.J. Cherryth (The Morgaine Cycle.) Competent, strong, dedicated. And her relationship with her companion is awesome.

Just a reminder about the eBook Bash…

I don’t want to take away from my awesome guest, but be sure to check out our 99c Fantasy, 3 Days Only, Feb. 10-12 Tales of Love and Magic http://ebookpromos.wordpress.com/