S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 235

CLGs

My quilting guild recently offered a member challenge that really got me where I quilt: finishing and/or selling a project we don't want to part with, aka a CLG (Can't Let Go.)

Among my guild, a CLG is usually a large work-intensive project (like a hand-quilted king-size bed quilt), or an especially hideous one (think a hot pink and electric blue tumbling block baby quilt. With Hello Kitty and Bob the Builder embroidery.) Sometimes it's both. Often they come from wonderful ideas that burn ...

Demons and Angels

Larissa Ione's fourth novel in her Demonica series, Ecstasy Unveiled , has just hit the shelves, and Underworld General Hospital is about to get very, very busy. To earn his freedom, Lore, an enslaved half-demon assassin, has to make only one more kill: Kynan, a human who he brought back to life so he could fulfill an important destiny. Of course when Lore refuses, he learns there's a catch: if he doesn't kill Kynan, his sister Sin will die.

Idess is a beautiful half-angel trying to earn her wa...

Oh, Man

Just a quick heads-up for anyone who wants to read an early copy of Dreamveil, my second Kyndred novel due out in June: there will be a chance to win a signed galley along with a copy of Shadowlight some time during author Amie Stuart's 14 Days of Love at her blog.

Also, for those of you in need of some no-cost e-reads, Suvudu has put up some new freebies for February: Elizabeth Moon's Sheepfarmer's Daughter; City of the Dog by John Langan and two short stories by Kelly Meding.

Now onto our re...

Mash-O-Matic

New from Ranco: The Mash-O-Matic, the most famous automatic novel mashup maker on the planet!



Writers, we know you've seen these hot, trendy books on the shelves making their authors uber famous and bringing in tons of royalties; now it's your turn to enjoy the ease, convenience and endless profits of creating your own bestselling mashup novels with little to no effort at all!

The Mash-O-Matic comes with an instructional booklet that shows you exactly how to take any famous book in the publi...

Sub Ops

Sub ops caution: to avoid scams, always thoroughly check out writer job listings as well as any contracts you are offered. A real writing job is one where the writer is paid to work, and does not have to first pay any fees, material charges or any other expenses to the employer.

Outsourced copyrwriters and editors wanted: BookSurge/CreateSpace is currently looking for "experienced copywriters to join their outsourced team. Potential applicants must be creative self-starters comfortable work...

Why God Must be a Writer

Always thinks He's right.

Doesn't dress well; really needs a haircut.

Gets blamed for everything that goes wrong with His work, even when it isn't His fault.

Goes for the surprise ending.

Had one huge bestseller but hasn't done much since.

His only kid got famous using His name.

People who collect money supposedly for His works keep most of it to use for their own purposes.

Spends a lot of time alone; spotted in some very strange places.

Wackos He's never met or even talked to claim to know the preci...

I Dream of Jenny

I'm at a writer's conference, trying to dodge the drinkers, smokers, spitters and touchers -- basically, everyone -- when I'm cornered in the only working elevator by the nastiest person in Publishing I've ever encountered.

Next time, stupid, take the stairs.

SwampBreath Nastiest Person tells me I've been invited to spend the weekend at a private retreat with four other writers, all of whom are RWA legends. One is Jennifer Crusie. HogFace Nastiest Person also makes it very clear that I ca...

J.D.

You were rude, arrogant, eccentric, reclusive -- and that's just what the people who liked you say. I admired you, not for that damn book, which annoyed the hell out of me, but instead for the way you ferociously battled to protect the work as well as the rights of the author. I bet you went out still swinging, too.

To reflect on your legacy, well, let's put it this way: my middle teen has a copy of that damn book sitting on his desk at this very moment. He's writing a paper about it, and h...

Fun with Droste

The Droste Effect is named for a Dutch cocoa maker that employed a recursive image (an image which contains an image of itself that contains an image of itself that contains an image of itself, etc.) on its tin.

Escher had a lot of fun with the Droste Effect, too, which can be explained mathematically. If you loop a droste effect image, you can create a little piece of infinity, ala Rooney Design's Christmas Zoom Movie.

In fiction, we have a similar term -- mise en abyme* which is the practice...

Letters to Dead Writers

Letters to Dead People, an online blogging project by Celine Song, is exactly what the title says: letters written to the deceased. They're short and sweet, like telegrams to the hereafter, and seem to range from wry to angry to painfully wistful. Every one I've read so far is addressed to a famous person, like the one above to Edgar (and yeah, I'm kind of partial to the wording.)

I can't recall ever writing a letter to a dead writer. For one thing, I like receiving replies to my letters. ...