Chrissy Munder's Blog, page 44
February 2, 2015
Welcome Guest Author: Joe Cosentino
Now, let's see what Joe has to say for himself:
Hi Joe, thanks for visiting with us today. Your career spans an impressive range of creative expression. Do you prefer one medium to another? If so, which one, and could you briefly tell us why?
When I told my mother I wanted to be an actor, she said, “Take this knife and stick it through my heart.” I did it anyway, and acted on stage and screen with stars like Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Holland Taylor, Jason Robards, and Nathan Lane. You can see me on You Tube in the ABC-TV movie, MY MOTHER WAS NEVER A KID, about a third of the way through. As my students say, “You were cute when you were young!” Anyway, it occurred to me that acting is storytelling in the same way that writing is storytelling, so I decided to give playwriting a try. When I told my mother I wanted to write fiction, she said, “Don’t you have anything better to do?” I wonder if Shakespeare’s mother said that? Anyway, as I tell my students, whether you are painting a picture, singing, dancing, making a movie, acting, writing, or directing, you are storytelling. So for me, acting, writing, and directing are all equally as fulfilling. There’s nothing better than telling a story.
When writing, do you prefer to use real life locations, or ones you’ve created?
I was born and raised in New Jersey, moved to NYC for a while, attended graduate school in VT, visited LA, and currently live upstate New York. So far those have been the locations for my books. As they say, write what you know about. I think it gives my writing a realistic flavor.
Which do you prefer as a reader?
As a reader I love books that take me places I’ve never been, however, that’s getting harder as my spouse and I take vacations to various locations in the US and in Europe.
What is it about this story you needed to tell?
I was thinking back to my high school days, and how difficult it was back then for a gay teen before GLSEN, PFLAG, and Will and Grace. Lab partners, gym locker rooms, and club meetings where super important. At my high school reunion, I realized things weren’t what they seemed back then. A story was born. It began as a one-act play, which I expanded and morphed into a novella. The story is personal and important to me. I love that the story spans twenty years so we see Harold (and Mario) develop and mature. I also love the theme of infatuation. Haven’t we all been infatuated with someone at some point in our lives?
Is there a scene or line in the book you ended up cutting but you really wanted to leave in?
No, it was the opposite. I kept adding and adding until I finally stopped myself and sent it to Dreamspinner Press.
What is the most surprising thing you learned about yourself while writing An Infatuation?
While the situation in the book is fictitious, Harold is based on me. I really admire his resilience, honesty, intelligence, wit, and ability to keep going in trying situations. His heart may be broken, but his spirit always stays intact. Harold’s devotion to his spouse, Stuart, is admirable, as is his honesty about his teenage infatuation with Mario. Those are pretty good traits. I hope I have them.
If we looked at your desk right now, what three things would we see?
Besides my teaching folders, you’d find three writing folders: Current Writing Project, Current Editing Project, and Current Publicizing Project.
What can your readers look forward to next?
I am currently writing a sequel novel to my mystery/romance novel about an ex-child movie star PAPER DOLL (Whiskey Creek Press), entitled PORCELAIN DOLL. I am also working on an M/M comedy mystery series set in the world of academia. Since I am a college professor, I know that world quite well. Happily, nobody has been murdered at my college—yet. I am finishing the first three novels, DRAMA QUEEN, DRAMA MUSCLE, and DRAMA CRUISE.
I'm excited to know there's more of Joe's writing on the way. Here's a look at his February 4th release:
AN INFATUATION
a novella by Joe Cosentino
published by Dreamspinner Press and available for Pre-Order
Excerpt:
One Friday afternoon I accidentally ran into my hero in the boy's locker room. I’d had enough of the big guys banging me into gym lockers, pushing me into cold showers, and hanging me from the gym ropes. So I was on my way to give Mr. Adoni a note from Dr. Dlorah excusing me from gym class for the remainder of the school year (due to my highly contagious disease being studied by my doctor in Guatemala, where he could not be reached for the next year).
The locker room smelled of an odd combination of soap, cologne, sweat, and desire. Mario was getting ready for football practice, standing at his gym locker without a combination lock on it. Nobody would dare to break into it (Except for me that one time I smelled his jock strap. Okay maybe it was a few times, but not more than ten.). Mario slid his T-shirt (red today) over his thick, black hair and threw it on the nearby bench. No longer harnessed by cotton, his arm, back, chest, and neck muscles swelled to full size. I was half hidden behind the adjoining row of lockers, wearing my usual green and blue flannel shirt and brown corduroy pants. Mario, who wasn’t looking in my direction, said something really beautiful to me that I will never forget.
“Hi.”
“Did you just? Oh. Hi. Hello. Good afternoon. Nice to see you. I mean, change with you.” I looked down at the floor (but cheated a bit) as Mario kicked off his boots, slipped off his jeans then threw them in the lucky locker. His red underpants (briefs) revealed ample manhood. This is better than the newspaper’s underwear ads!
“Good gym class today with Mr. Adonis, I mean, Mr. Adoni.” Did I just say that? “Harold High.”
“Hi.”
“High.” How can I get my pulse down to 260?
“Hi.” Mario reached into his locker for his sweat clothes.
Shouldn’t people be doing that for you? “Oh, my last name is High. Like a kite.” How can I stop my arms from waving like an airport flagger on speed?
“Mario Ginetti. Like nothin’ else imaginable.” Mario smiled, revealing a row of perfectly white teeth, and held the sweat clothes in his hands as if he was mortal.
“I know. I watch your body play.” Why can’t I stop talking? “I mean, I watch you play … football … on the field … in your football outfit.” I feel like Michelangelo with his David!
As Mario put on his sweats, I continued to sweat.
“I'm voting for your body … I mean I'm voting for you for president of your … our … the student body.” I need my jaw wired shut. “I’m your lab partner in Chemistry class. Ms. Hungry’s class … I mean Ms. Hunsley’s class.”
His olive-colored face glistened as Mario’s face registered recognition—of me! “I thought I knew you from somewheres. Hey, thanks for doing the lab reports.”
“It’s my honor … I mean my pleasure. It’s fine. If you need help putting up posters for your campaign, I can … ”
Having just tied the laces of his sneakers, Mario stood absolutely still. He looked at me as if he was staring into my heart and somehow knew what I was feeling. “I gotta take a wicked piss.”
Can I watch?
“Thanks for helping me out, Buddy.” He slammed the locker door and left.
He called me, Buddy! My heart was as soft and silly as putty that Mario held in the palm of his hand like his soap on a rope.
Author Bio:
Joe Cosentino is the author of the acclaimed mystery novel, Paper Doll (Whiskey Creek Press). He has appeared in principal acting roles in film, television, and theatre, opposite stars such as Bruce Willis, Rosie O’Donnell, Nathan Lane, Holland Taylor, and Jason Robards. His one-act plays, Infatuation and Neighbor, were performed in New York City. He wrote a musical theatre adaptation of The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (Eldridge Plays and Musicals), and The Perils of Pauline educational film (Prentice Hall Publishers). Joe is currently Head of the Department/Professor at a college in upstate New York, and is happily married. His upcoming novels are Porcelain Doll and Drama Queen. JoeCosentino.weebly.com.
Contact Joe:
Website: https://www.JoeCosentino.weebly.com
Dreamspinner Press author page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_1330
Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4071647.Joe_Cosentino
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00KRPXJP6
January 29, 2015
Dreamspinner Press Authors Interview on YouTube!
January 28, 2015
Homonym Hump Day - Lightning or Lightening?
January 26, 2015
Welcome Guest Author: L. Blankenship
Hawks & Rams
by L. Blankenship
a m/m fantasy romance novella
ON SALE NOW!
from Dreamspinner Press
Amazon • Dreamspinner • B&N • AllRomance
Back Cover
Heathric Felahóf never wanted to be a thief, but his cousinʼs scheme is the only option to keep the town's children from being taken as slaves to cover the year's taxes. So a few men slip over the border into the neighboring kingdom, steal a flock of sheep, and escape before the magically gifted Rangers learn of them. The second time, they're not so lucky, and trouble follows the bandits home.
Adal Sperling has given up on finding a lover who truly wants him. One of the Rangers charged with protecting his people, he pursues the sheep thieves over the border and stumbles across Heathric, a gentle shepherd who only wants to take care of his family. But opposite sides of border incursions is a rough way to fall in love, and the laws of Adalʼs kingdom are clear: the border must remain closed to Heathricʼs people.
From Chapter 1
The meadow, sheep, and herding dogs looked familiar enough to Heathric, but the shepherds spoke the wrong language. He and his cousins crouched behind a knot of birches, waiting for Dunstan and Scéot to flank the field and shoot the dogs. Mother Love only knew what would happen then; folk on this side of the border hills were all kir-mages, it was said. Their saints made them, even if they were born without the gift.
One of the dogs leaped up from the tall grass, ears cocked toward the trees at the edge of the meadow. Heathric’s breath caught. The dog faced away from him, though. It had to be one of the two woodsmen. The elder shepherd noticed his dog and stood up too. His son, red-haired like him, called a question.
An arrow hissed. The dog cried out and fell. Heathric winced, squeezing his eyes shut. The second dog barked once and squealed in pain. It stabbed through Heathric’s ears and pricked tears to his eyes.
“Come on!” Athard cuffed Heathric as he rushed past. Athard whistled to his own dog, and a bark answered from the forest behind them.
Heathric took a breath to steady himself. It had to be done, or the strangers’ dogs would attack their own. He whistled the order to come and heard Clymp tearing through the ferns toward him.
Lunging to his feet, Heathric charged into the meadow with his shepherd’s staff in both hands. Wails from the dying dog hit his ears, along with men’s shouts. The sheep baaed and dithered under all the noise, some of them frightened enough to bolt toward the tree line. Heathric whistled a flanking command to Clymp and called the sheep together.
They didn’t know Suevi words, though, and he was a stranger. A gray and white mop of a dog burst from the forest and the sheep shied in unison toward Heathric. He spread his arms, with the staff held out long, to turn them back to the main flock. They veered away, crashing into their flock-mates in confusion.
Behind them, ounstan raised his bow as a club and struck the shepherd down. Heathric saw his cousin’s rage, clear as day, and felt it hot and prickly as a sunburn across his skin.
Running sheep caught his eye, and Heathric whistled again. Clymp raced past to herd them back. “Easy, easy,” Heathric said, pacing along the edge of the flock with his arms wide. “We won’t hurt you.”
The animals’ eyes rolled, and they bumped against each other in trying to huddle. Beyond, Dunstan clubbed the shepherd again, then put his hand on the hilt of the seax he wore strapped across the small of his back. The knife’s long, heavy blade flashed in the sun as he jerked it from the scabbard.
“No!” It burst from Heathric’s mouth.
Dunstan stabbed. Heathric broke into a run, hurdling the sheep that couldn’t scramble out of his way.
“No! You swore—!”
Dunstan swung around with the bloody seax at ready. Heathric skidded to a stop, barely keeping his balance. His cousin snorted and flicked blood off the blade. “No harm’ll come to us.” He put a sneering emphasis on the last word.
Hawks & Rams
ON SALE NOW!
Amazon • Dreamspinner • B&N • AllRomance
Also by L. Blankenship
Disciple, a six part gritty fantasy adventure
Download Disciple, Part I for FREE
Amazon • B&N • More Retailers
Bio:
L. Blankenship is the alternate identity of a mild-mannered graphic designer. I write both hard science fiction and fantasy adventures. I blog at Notes from the Jovian Frontier, and contribute to Unicorn Bell. Gmail addy: blankenship(dot)louise
Contact L. Blankenship:
Blog: http://lblankenship.blogspot.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LBlankenship_sf
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/louise.blankenship.1
G+: blankenship.louise
Dreamspinner Press: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/AuthorArcade/l-blankenship/bio/
Monday Musing
January 25, 2015
Psssst. More Guest Authors on the Way
January 23, 2015
Welcome Guest Author: Anne Barwell
Good morning everyone. Today I'm excited to welcome my first guest author for 2015, Anne Barwell. Anne writes across a variety of genres but underlying all of her work is a deep understanding and acceptance of the truths that make us human. In other words, she's a great read and she's here to tell us what we can expect in this new year.
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Thanks for hosting me today, Chrissy.
For me, last year was a year for writing about history, and music. This year I’m writing fantasy and heading back into dragon territory.
Why the change of genre?
I blame my muses, and the fact that everything I write turns into a series. I had intended to just have two series on the go at one time, as that’s easy to manage and readers aren’t waiting too long between books. But I had vampires and dragon queue jump and the dragon’s story—which was supposed to be a one shot—turned into a trilogy. I did try to write an epilogue to wrap everything up, but one of my betas told me it was the beginning of a new book and I did realise that, right? Then another beta not only agreed and then pointed out that really it was a three book series. They were right.
With having a few series on the go I write in a circle ie series A, series B, series C, series A, with a new book in each so the readers following those series aren’t kept hanging too long for the next instalment. I write across different genres, which is the same way I read, but often I find readers who love historicals don’t read fantasy, and vice versa.
As I’m working full time—in a library which is an evil den of temptation—I aim to write two books a year. This year it’s two and half as I’m also co-writing an historical fantasy with Lou Sylvre called The Harp and the Sea. We started this story last year but real life caught up with both of us so we’re prioritising it for this year. Here’s the blurb:
In 1745, Ian MacDonald keeps watch from the Isle of Skye, hoping to see Bonnie Prince Charlie’s ships hove into view. A highlander and a Jacobite born and bred, he’ll follow and fight when the prince comes to Scotland, and meanwhile await and guard a treasure meant to finance the future war. Perfect for the job because he has no wife and is never likely to take one, he wishes nonetheless deep in his heart for love, for that one man of them all who could be his match.
Then one morning, something comes in on the waves, not ships, but a twisted, waterlogged harp. He doesn’t understand his need to fetch it in to shore, to carry it up to the cottage he’s made home. But when the harp is taken, he’s driven to follow the trail of the thief—and it’s a man. A strange and beautiful man. Robbie Elliot—he defies explanation, and from whence did he come? And why, sweet mystery, why does the broken harp sound when Ian lays a kiss on Robbie’s lips?
My other current WIP is One Word, and is the next book in the Hidden Places series. It’s a side novel to Cat’s Quill and takes place during the six weeks that Cathal and Tomas are in Naearu. Donovan and Ethan play an important part in the last book in that series Dragon’s Price which I’m writing in 2017 and I wanted to explore their characters in more depth before I wrote that one. One Word is more of a contemporary story but there’s still a hint of fantasy to it.
When Ethan Leavitt comes to the village of Oakwood to search for a missing friend, he isn’t sure what he’ll find. He’s always prided himself on his ability to find rational explanations in situations where often there doesn’t appear to be one. Evidence, after all, is something that is usually backed up by logic. Right?
Donovan Campbell has worked hard to put his past behind him. His happy, sometimes flippant, persona hides memories he’d rather forget. The last thing he needs is for some guy he’s only just met to start getting under his skin.
A dangerous situation escalates, and Donovan must embrace a part of himself he can no longer ignore in order to save a future that might never have the chance to exist. Often the person you think you’re looking for is not the one you find—but have he and Ethan both realized that too late?
Once The Harp and the Sea and One Word are written, I’m writing A Mage to Forget which is the second book in The Dragons of Astria series, and the sequel to A Knight to Remember. Given that the code phrase of the resistance in Hidden Places is “I believe in dragons” it seems to fair to me to blame dragons for this years’ writing.
Next year I’ll shift the blame elsewhere as I’ll be writing Comes a Horseman, the final book in the Echoes series. I’ll be following that with Double Exposure, the first book of the ongoing Opus series. This is a spin off of the urban fantasy series The Sleepless City.
Bio:
Anne Barwell lives in Wellington, New Zealand. She shares her home with two cats who are convinced that the house is run to suit them; this is an ongoing "discussion," and to date it appears as though the cats may be winning.
In 2008 she completed her conjoint BA in English Literature and Music/Bachelor of Teaching. She has worked as a music teacher, a primary school teacher, and now works in a library. She is a member of the Upper Hutt Science Fiction Club and plays violin for Hutt Valley Orchestra.
She is an avid reader across a wide range of genres and a watcher of far too many TV series and movies, although it can be argued that there is no such thing as "too many." These, of course, are best enjoyed with a decent cup of tea and further the continuing argument that the concept of "spare time" is really just a myth.
Contact Anne:
Blog: http://anne-barwell.livejournal.com/
Website: http://annebarwell.wordpress.com/
Coffee Unicorns: http://coffeeunicorns.wordpress.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/anne.barwell.1
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4862410.Anne_Barwell
Dreamspinner Press Author Page: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/index.php?cPath=55_426
January 19, 2015
Learning to Replenish. Does your life need a little more celebration?
I can recall relaxing in a bubble bath as a 20-something year old; an assortment of candles flickering around the edge of the tub while I skimmed through a magazine and wrinkled my nose at the article exhorting overworked women to take time for them. The author listed several small examples of self-care, which seemed silly. Who needed advice on something this simple?
Well, I’m no longer in my 20’s, and I can’t tell you the last time I kicked back in a froth of scented bubbles. Even if I thought about it, the only candles I have in the house are probably of the birthday cake variety. Pretty useless unless I paused to bake some cupcakes to use as candleholders. Sound familiar? Apparently, that article was written for women like us. And the advice? Even more important now. Because somewhere along the way of taking care of everyone else we forgot to take care of ourselves.
I’m convinced this concept of celebration and replenishment is as vital in our writing life as it is in our day-to-day reality. Too often the push is on a higher word count, the next chapter, the next release. We forget our stories are comprised of a series of baby steps, each one building to the whole, and each one deserving of recognition and celebration.
When’s the last time you took a moment to replenish? To celebrate any one of the many accomplishments in your harried day? Especially the small ones. If you have to think about the question, it’s been too long. A car doesn’t run on empty, neither does our brain, heart, or soul. If you already understand the importance of recognizing your accomplishments, great! Share with us one of your replenishing rewards.
But, if you find this a foreign concept, let’s stop and consider: What could we do to celebrate our mini milestones? And by mini milestone I mean anything from scrubbing the toilet, folding that last load of clothes, or reaching the end of a writing session.
Could we email a writing buddy? Tweet a quick "Go me"? How about tossing a handful of brightly colored confetti in the air, or my personal favorite, running around the house for 30 seconds with our arms raised in triumph? Okay, maybe the last one is a little heavy on the dork factor, but it’s seriously fun. Go ahead, try it. :) Give your inner dork some time in the sun.
No matter what we choose, the bigger question is, can we remember to make this type of replenishment part of our daily routine in 2015? What do you think? Could your life use a little more celebration?
January 14, 2015
Homonym Hump Day - Capital or Capitol
Following a rather rambling train of thought after I played around with this on left me wondering: If the majority of closed captioning is done via software and not humans typing, what are the odds the computer will pick the correct spelling when the words sound the same. Is there an algorithm for context?
