Isabel Roman's Blog, page 62
December 7, 2010
A date that will live in infamy
The USS Arizona, Pearl Harbor, USS Enterprise, Ford Island. Read all about it.
From wikipedia:
The Presidential Address to Congress of December 8, 1941 was delivered at 12:30 p.m. that day to a Joint Session of Congress by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawai'i. The name derives from the first line of the speech: Roosevelt describing the previous day as "a date which will live in infamy".
Within an hour of the speech, Congress passed a formal declaration of war against Japan and officially brought the U.S. into World War II. The address is regarded as one of the most famous American political speeches of the 20th century.
Roosevelt purposefully framed the speech around the perceived low moral character of the Japanese government. He drew a sharp contrast between the "righteous might" of the American people and the aggressive and deceitful nature of the Japanese regime.
Full speech either below (haven't managed to successfully embed a video yet) or here .
Don't forget my Title Contest !
From wikipedia:
The Presidential Address to Congress of December 8, 1941 was delivered at 12:30 p.m. that day to a Joint Session of Congress by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawai'i. The name derives from the first line of the speech: Roosevelt describing the previous day as "a date which will live in infamy".
Within an hour of the speech, Congress passed a formal declaration of war against Japan and officially brought the U.S. into World War II. The address is regarded as one of the most famous American political speeches of the 20th century.
Roosevelt purposefully framed the speech around the perceived low moral character of the Japanese government. He drew a sharp contrast between the "righteous might" of the American people and the aggressive and deceitful nature of the Japanese regime.
Full speech either below (haven't managed to successfully embed a video yet) or here .
Don't forget my Title Contest !
December 6, 2010
Monday's Excerpt Murder and Magick
Dark Desires of the Druids: Murder & Magick
. This is my first published book, now out for 2 years (seriously, time does fly!) I'm very proud of it and absolutely adore the cover! It's now
available for the Kindle for 99¢, but also on Ravenous, All Romance eBooks, B&N, and anywhere else you can think of to buy ebooks.
Oh, and don't forget my Title Contest !
Excerpt:
With another growl, he pulled her across him, boots forgotten, to attack her mouth. "Minx."
She merely offered a smug smile and drew him closer.
Silken under his mouth, her skin heated from his touches. The cottage lay in darkness. Though he'd have preferred to see his lover in the full light of the sun, he knew her body well enough to bring her to pleasure every time.
She was right of course; things could no longer go on as they had been. Mac didn't care as he entered her, and that bone-deep satisfaction settled over him, sheathed in her wet warmth.
God, this was heaven. Nothing in this world or, he was certain, the next could compare to being inside Raven. He couldn't give this up, wasn't sure how to give her up.
Savoring each thrust, the way she moved against him, Mac let the moment play out, let it stretch into the heated air around them, each of holding the other's gaze.
And then it snapped. Raven cried his name and rode her orgasm out beneath him, hips grinding against his, a picture of wild and wanton beauty.
His to hold, his to delight in. As his own climax overtook him, Mac's last coherent thought echoed through him.
Raven was his.
Need won over duty.
available for the Kindle for 99¢, but also on Ravenous, All Romance eBooks, B&N, and anywhere else you can think of to buy ebooks.Oh, and don't forget my Title Contest !
Excerpt:
With another growl, he pulled her across him, boots forgotten, to attack her mouth. "Minx."
She merely offered a smug smile and drew him closer.
Silken under his mouth, her skin heated from his touches. The cottage lay in darkness. Though he'd have preferred to see his lover in the full light of the sun, he knew her body well enough to bring her to pleasure every time.
She was right of course; things could no longer go on as they had been. Mac didn't care as he entered her, and that bone-deep satisfaction settled over him, sheathed in her wet warmth.
God, this was heaven. Nothing in this world or, he was certain, the next could compare to being inside Raven. He couldn't give this up, wasn't sure how to give her up.
Savoring each thrust, the way she moved against him, Mac let the moment play out, let it stretch into the heated air around them, each of holding the other's gaze.
And then it snapped. Raven cried his name and rode her orgasm out beneath him, hips grinding against his, a picture of wild and wanton beauty.
His to hold, his to delight in. As his own climax overtook him, Mac's last coherent thought echoed through him.
Raven was his.
Need won over duty.
December 3, 2010
GUEST: Sandy Lender
Please welcome Sandy Lender, my guest today. She's celebrating her Blog Tour and has graciously agreed to stop here. I have the normal 4
questions for her, but as always please feel free to ask her anything!
What made you decide to write What Choices We Made: Short Stories from the History of Onweald, Volume II (Or volume I for that matter!)?
Sandy Lender: "What Choices We Made," Volumes I and II happened for the same reason—I had oodles of information that couldn't be included in the novels my publisher was releasing in the "Choices" series. We're talking back story and legends and extra character portraits and side-stories and flashbacks and deleted scenes and recipes that other authors might include in an appendix and poems that characters wrote for each other and just oodles of stuff that any editor with half a brain will tell you, "this bogs down the reader." This answer is going to get long-winded, so I'll try to be brief!
When I pitched my first novel "Choices Meant for Gods" to Bob Gelinas of ArcheBooks Publishing, the thing was right around 260,000 words. Despite that, he asked for the whole MS
and offered me a contract within a couple of weeks. As you can imagine, the MS needed some "trimming" to get it to a size that could be marketed at a reasonable price. I mean, a book is a product that someone has to buy. Can you imagine how expensive a 260,000-word hardcover would be to produce? Try selling one of those from a then-unheard-of author!
So "Choices Meant for Gods" had some back-story that had to come out not just for readability, but for space/size limitations. I realized I could morph some of that back-story into individual short stories. There's a chalice that my main character, Amanda Chariss, finds in the second novel, "Choices Meant for Kings," that could have its own novella. Who in their right mind is going to sit down and read a novella about a goblet? Boring! But…fans of mine still bring up the short story of Gella and Odan (titled "Dewberries and Bonds") in the first "What Choices We Made" chapbook, not realizing it lays the foundation for the chalice's imprisonment with a dragon in an ice cave. Fans rave about the short story of Dunny & Quill rescuing a dragon with a chalice in an ice cave. The chalice is barely mentioned in these stories, yet it's incredibly important to the world of Onweald. There's no way I would have had room to flesh out its story in the "Choices" novels the way I can in these chapbooks.
Then I had some sultry little scenes between Amanda Chariss and Nigel Taiman that I deleted from the novels because they were a little too mushy or they slowed the pace too much. What better place to slide a deleted scene into the public eye than a chapbook? It's not something a non-fan would pick up on, but it only takes up a couple of pages in the chapbook, thus can be skipped easily, or can get a newbie pretty darn interested in those two lovebirds!
What else are you working on? I hear book 3 possibly?
Sandy Lender: Book III of the trilogy is in editing right now. It's currently titled "Choices Meant for All" and it's going to get me lynched if I don't produce it soon. The fan requests have taken an edgier tone as of late…
I'm also working on Book II of the Dragons in Space series that Night Wolf Publications handles. "Problems on Eldora Prime" is a YA novel that is doing very well there. I'm pleased with its reception.
Then I have a few others that have been distracting me. If I can put a dragon in it, it's going to distract me. Those creatures tend to be demanding once they figure out you're willing to write their stories…
What's your dream story? The one that becomes a New York Times runaway bestseller, the one you hope to one day write? Or have you?
Sandy Lender: I'd love to incorporate a dragon in steampunk, but is the world ready for that?
I actually have a novel I delved 60,000+ words into during National Novel Writing Month about a breed of small dragons that poachers try to smuggle off another moon for the pet trade. I base the action off the early atrocities in the parrot pet trade. It was emotional to write because I share my home with four companion parrots whose ancestors endured that horror. Our world is in danger of losing a variety of parrot species through habitat destruction, disease (in the case of the kokopo parrot) and continued poaching. If I can raise awareness of their pending extinction in the wild through sci-fi/fantasy fiction that entertains and charms the reader, I'll have something twice as valuable as a New York Times runaway bestseller. So my dream story, inspired by my Sun Conure Petri, is "in process" right now.
Anything else you'd like to share?
Sandy Lender: That last answer firmly affixes the label "Crazy Bird Lady" to me, so, if it would be okay, could we also affix the label "Crazy Dragon Lady" beneath it? I'm in love with all things dragon. They're quite cool, you know. The novella "The Influential Love Story of Ella and Rohne" that I included in "What Choices We Made, Volume II" has two dragons—one good and helpful, one not-so-good. I think readers will enjoy the first one's appearance. I apologize for the second dragon and what happens…it's just the way it had to be.
Thank you so much for sharing your time (and space) at your blog today! Awesome questions…
From Sandy Lender
"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."
questions for her, but as always please feel free to ask her anything!What made you decide to write What Choices We Made: Short Stories from the History of Onweald, Volume II (Or volume I for that matter!)?
Sandy Lender: "What Choices We Made," Volumes I and II happened for the same reason—I had oodles of information that couldn't be included in the novels my publisher was releasing in the "Choices" series. We're talking back story and legends and extra character portraits and side-stories and flashbacks and deleted scenes and recipes that other authors might include in an appendix and poems that characters wrote for each other and just oodles of stuff that any editor with half a brain will tell you, "this bogs down the reader." This answer is going to get long-winded, so I'll try to be brief!
When I pitched my first novel "Choices Meant for Gods" to Bob Gelinas of ArcheBooks Publishing, the thing was right around 260,000 words. Despite that, he asked for the whole MS
and offered me a contract within a couple of weeks. As you can imagine, the MS needed some "trimming" to get it to a size that could be marketed at a reasonable price. I mean, a book is a product that someone has to buy. Can you imagine how expensive a 260,000-word hardcover would be to produce? Try selling one of those from a then-unheard-of author!So "Choices Meant for Gods" had some back-story that had to come out not just for readability, but for space/size limitations. I realized I could morph some of that back-story into individual short stories. There's a chalice that my main character, Amanda Chariss, finds in the second novel, "Choices Meant for Kings," that could have its own novella. Who in their right mind is going to sit down and read a novella about a goblet? Boring! But…fans of mine still bring up the short story of Gella and Odan (titled "Dewberries and Bonds") in the first "What Choices We Made" chapbook, not realizing it lays the foundation for the chalice's imprisonment with a dragon in an ice cave. Fans rave about the short story of Dunny & Quill rescuing a dragon with a chalice in an ice cave. The chalice is barely mentioned in these stories, yet it's incredibly important to the world of Onweald. There's no way I would have had room to flesh out its story in the "Choices" novels the way I can in these chapbooks.
Then I had some sultry little scenes between Amanda Chariss and Nigel Taiman that I deleted from the novels because they were a little too mushy or they slowed the pace too much. What better place to slide a deleted scene into the public eye than a chapbook? It's not something a non-fan would pick up on, but it only takes up a couple of pages in the chapbook, thus can be skipped easily, or can get a newbie pretty darn interested in those two lovebirds!
What else are you working on? I hear book 3 possibly?
Sandy Lender: Book III of the trilogy is in editing right now. It's currently titled "Choices Meant for All" and it's going to get me lynched if I don't produce it soon. The fan requests have taken an edgier tone as of late…
I'm also working on Book II of the Dragons in Space series that Night Wolf Publications handles. "Problems on Eldora Prime" is a YA novel that is doing very well there. I'm pleased with its reception.
Then I have a few others that have been distracting me. If I can put a dragon in it, it's going to distract me. Those creatures tend to be demanding once they figure out you're willing to write their stories…
What's your dream story? The one that becomes a New York Times runaway bestseller, the one you hope to one day write? Or have you?
Sandy Lender: I'd love to incorporate a dragon in steampunk, but is the world ready for that?
I actually have a novel I delved 60,000+ words into during National Novel Writing Month about a breed of small dragons that poachers try to smuggle off another moon for the pet trade. I base the action off the early atrocities in the parrot pet trade. It was emotional to write because I share my home with four companion parrots whose ancestors endured that horror. Our world is in danger of losing a variety of parrot species through habitat destruction, disease (in the case of the kokopo parrot) and continued poaching. If I can raise awareness of their pending extinction in the wild through sci-fi/fantasy fiction that entertains and charms the reader, I'll have something twice as valuable as a New York Times runaway bestseller. So my dream story, inspired by my Sun Conure Petri, is "in process" right now.
Anything else you'd like to share?
Sandy Lender: That last answer firmly affixes the label "Crazy Bird Lady" to me, so, if it would be okay, could we also affix the label "Crazy Dragon Lady" beneath it? I'm in love with all things dragon. They're quite cool, you know. The novella "The Influential Love Story of Ella and Rohne" that I included in "What Choices We Made, Volume II" has two dragons—one good and helpful, one not-so-good. I think readers will enjoy the first one's appearance. I apologize for the second dragon and what happens…it's just the way it had to be.
Thank you so much for sharing your time (and space) at your blog today! Awesome questions…
From Sandy Lender
"Some days, you just want the dragon to win."
December 2, 2010
1920s story redux
Tri-dux? Is that a word? Re-redux? Either way, I'm slowly widdling it down. Revamping, rewording, basically rewriting large sections to get this story ready for submission. Man, makes me wish I'd done this when I finished it! Would've saved me lots of time now...
Alas I didn't. So I am now. But all this is really why the term 'FIRST DRAFT' was coined. I'm on draft 3, and am so very much happier with this, I can't begin to describe it.
The good news is that I'm through Acts 1 and 2 (of 5) and moving on through Act 3. I think I actually will have this finished by Christmas!
And don't forget my Title Contest !
Alas I didn't. So I am now. But all this is really why the term 'FIRST DRAFT' was coined. I'm on draft 3, and am so very much happier with this, I can't begin to describe it.
The good news is that I'm through Acts 1 and 2 (of 5) and moving on through Act 3. I think I actually will have this finished by Christmas!
And don't forget my Title Contest !
December 1, 2010
December?
It's December? I don't want to hear it. I refuse to believe it. I'm
not ready.
Not for Christmas, nearly done with that shopping. But for the end of the year! Where did 2010 go? What happened to it? Why does time go by so darn quickly.
What did YOU accomplish in 2010? And what do you plan to accomplish for 2011?
And don't forget Friday guest Sandy Lender will be here!
OR my Title Contest !
not ready.Not for Christmas, nearly done with that shopping. But for the end of the year! Where did 2010 go? What happened to it? Why does time go by so darn quickly.
What did YOU accomplish in 2010? And what do you plan to accomplish for 2011?
And don't forget Friday guest Sandy Lender will be here!
OR my Title Contest !
November 30, 2010
Guest Blogging
Today, I'm over at Caroline Clemmens blog,
A Writer's Life
. Come stop by and comment! There may be prizes involved. Maybe. ;)
November 29, 2010
Reviews
What makes you write a review? Do you write one for every single title you read? Do you post those reviews you do write at all possible places?
Probably not. Which might be a generalization but I certainly don't. I read so many more books than I write reviews for, and honesty post my reviews mostly here. I used to on Amazon, before I boycotted them permanently, but even now that I use Barnes & Noble, I find I don't post reviews on there for the books I read.
Can't tell you why that is, but there you have it. So...what makes YOU write a review?
And don't forget Friday guest Sandy Lender will be here!
Oh, and don't forget my Title Contest !
Probably not. Which might be a generalization but I certainly don't. I read so many more books than I write reviews for, and honesty post my reviews mostly here. I used to on Amazon, before I boycotted them permanently, but even now that I use Barnes & Noble, I find I don't post reviews on there for the books I read.
Can't tell you why that is, but there you have it. So...what makes YOU write a review?
And don't forget Friday guest Sandy Lender will be here!
Oh, and don't forget my Title Contest !
November 26, 2010
Shopping!
Who's awake at that ungodly hour and standing in that freezing line waiting for the perfect gift. Rather, the perfect sale?
*ahem*
Raises hand. Have you SEEN these Black Friday sales? Wow, they're amazing. So I got up waaayyy early, trudged off to the story, and will let you all know my amazing buys when I return. If I return alive.
And don't forget my Title Contest !
*ahem*
Raises hand. Have you SEEN these Black Friday sales? Wow, they're amazing. So I got up waaayyy early, trudged off to the story, and will let you all know my amazing buys when I return. If I return alive.
And don't forget my Title Contest !
November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving, America!
And for those of you outside the US, I'm sure you have something to be
thankful for as well. It's a day for remembering and appreciating all those you love and care about. So Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. :)
thankful for as well. It's a day for remembering and appreciating all those you love and care about. So Happy Thanksgiving to you, too. :)Not what we say about our blessing, but how we use them is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser
And don't forget my Title Contest!
November 24, 2010
Got zombie?
Homepage of the Dead
...yup, you read right! It's a website dedicated to
zombies, zombies, and more zombies. They're giving away a copy of
Hungry for Your Love
, so if you have ANY interest in zombies, stop on by! From their about us page: This site is dedicated to the horror films comprising the George A. Romero "Dead" series of films, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead.
And don't forget my Title Contest !
zombies, zombies, and more zombies. They're giving away a copy of
Hungry for Your Love
, so if you have ANY interest in zombies, stop on by! From their about us page: This site is dedicated to the horror films comprising the George A. Romero "Dead" series of films, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead.And don't forget my Title Contest !
