Merry Shannon's Blog, page 5

Almost there

I suppose it is only appropriate that on Talk Like A Pirate Day, my site had been hit by web pirates such that I could not make a post of piratey goodness. :p

I have at last managed to chase them off, which gives me the chance to announce that I am officially just one final scene away from completing the Prayer of the Handmaiden manuscript. My hope is to get it finished this weekend… I wanted to work on it this week but got very little done due to workplace issues and a particularly miserable attack of insomnia that has left me foggy-headed for days. Anyway, the last scene of a book is probably my absolute least favorite to write. For me it’s the hardest, because I keep wondering if it’s satisfying enough. I really like my neat and pretty fairytale endings. “And the peasants rejoiced! The End…” But what if it’s TOO neat and pretty? Sigh. Plus there’s a bit of sadness, after spending so much time with these characters, that I’m wrapping things up with them.

I’ve spent more time with Kade and Erinda than I have with any of my characters yet, because this book has taken so long to write. I kind of miss them already. I already have plans for the next book in the series, though they’re not as clear as I’d like (and I want to know what’s going to happen next!!) but one thing at a time… I’m going to spend about two weeks editing up this first draft and then get it sent off to my publisher. (*gulp*) and then it will be time to wait and see if it gets approved, followed by several months of editing work. In the meantime, of course, I may try to get a head start on Ithyria book #3. Which promises to be very different from the first two…

 

I don’t think I can give enough thanks to all the amazing folks who have emailed, tweeted and posted comments here in anticipation of this new story. You guys inspire me every day, and even when I am feeling like I’ll never get through my projects, you’re the reason I manage to find time to keep them going. So much love to every single one of you.

The End of DOMA

 I meant to jot some thoughts down last week on the historic fall of DOMA, but it took me longer than I anticipated to actually get those thoughts together. The truth is, I don’t like politics. I find that they make me sad far more often than they fill me with righteous fire. I guess that’s because I pretty readily accept that there will always be people whose minds will not change. And trying to force your will on others rarely ever results in something good and positive.

Still, DOMA has saddened me for a long time. Its very name – “Defense of Marriage” – implied that any family I create is a threat to others. And while I understand that there are folks so mystified by same-sex attraction that they simply can’t comprehend that our love is real, I’ve really never understood how a gay relationship serves as a threat to a straight one.

In Colorado, we’ve been somewhat fortunate. A few years ago second-parent adoption was established, allowing two adults of any gender or relation to jointly adopt a child. There are laws here that protect GLBTQ folks from workplace discrimination and violence. Then came the designated beneficiary laws, allowing a person to designate any adult of their choosing with several important rights and duties, like medical decisions when incapacitated and default inheritance rights for anything not covered by a will. Most recently – just this May, in fact – civil unions were passed, and they are now covered by the same establishment and dissolution laws as heterosexual marriages. My own personal most-valued change is that partners may now be added to employer health insurance plans. I’m also excited about the ability to do a legal name change without having to go through the usual extended, expensive court process.

And for me personally, the best part about DOMA is the ability to receive the same tax benefits as any other married couple. But there are hundreds of others that may not affect me personally, but are invaluable to so many other people like me all over the country – the ability to get a green card for one’s foreign-born partner, for example.

I’ve said this before, but as far as I am concerned, a marriage certificate is not what marries two people. It is a legal contract, nothing more – after all, there are plenty of business partnerships that are far more intimate (and permanent.) Two people are married because they SAY SO. Because they’ve committed to sharing a life together. Human beings have been getting married long before the government ever invented the marriage license. And same-sex marriage, or the denial thereof, is not going to stop people from falling in love, sharing a home, and building a family. But the piece of paper – the stupid little piece of paper that doesn’t actually mean anything to the relationship – means EVERYTHING to the security and well-being of that family. It’s not the government’s role to decide what a family should look like. But it is most definitely the government’s role to ensure that every family is protected and honored in the same way. So I am indescribably relieved and overjoyed at this recent turn of events.

“Lucky Number Seven,” the short story I wrote for the paranormal Women of the Dark Streets anthology, derives its title from the two main characters’ relationship. Like me, Kara and Nic live in Denver, where same-sex marriages are not recognized. So, getting legally married in every state that will issue them a license is their “thing.” The story was written shortly after same-sex marriage was granted in New York, so at the time the story opens, Kara and Nic have six marriage licenses and are looking forward to their seventh.

I love the romance of this idea. Nonetheless, I can’t wait for the day when this story is so hopelessly outdated that a reader’s going to have to turn to the history books to figure out why anybody would do that. :P And that day is coming, my friends… It is coming.

Out in Colorado

The Colorado GLBTQ writer’s group I mentioned a couple blogs ago now has a website.

It’s just getting started now, but there are plans for free stories and other such goodies in the works. Go take a look!

Another Goldie Winner!

So proud that the Bold Strokes Books anthology Women of the Dark Streets (which includes my short story “Lucky Number Seven”) won a 2013 Golden Crown Literary Society award in the anthology category! I’m proud every day to be a part of this amazing group of writers.

The photos and reports from last week’s GCLS convention look like SO much fun. I’m sad every year when life issues keep me from being able to attend. Maybe next year though? I hear it will be in Portland…. If you have never attended, dear readers, I strongly recommend the experience. It’s a load of fun for writers and readers alike!

Denver Pride 2013

A couple weeks ago I received an email/twitter follow from a fellow Colorado writer, with an invitation to join a local GLBT authors’ group called Out in Colorado. They were going to host a booth at this year’s Denver Pridefest and sell books, and she said I’d be welcome to join them if I could make it. So I pulled out my stash of books and headed off to Pride on Sunday. Turns out my stories were the only female/female ones there, and my ENTIRE STASH sold out in just a couple hours. Wow. Had a great time, and got to chat with so many sweet and lovely readers. I was really thrilled at how many folks walked by, looked at the Bold Strokes logo on my books, and commented on how many BSB books they’d read, and that they knew a BSB book would be a good one.

And I was completely over the moon to catch more than one eyeing my books and saying “Ooh, this is one of my favorite books ever! I love this author’s work!” without having any idea that I was standing right there. I think I probably fangirled over the readers way more than they did over my books, LOL…

Was SO much fun. Definitely going next year, but will be better prepared with a larger stash and maybe other BSB authors too… Huge thanks to Marie Sexton, Caitlin Ricci, Tabatha Heart, George Seaton and ML Rhodes for making this such a fun and welcoming event! (And for letting my little dog hang out with everyone.)

Hosen, by any other name… is *not* the same thing

These dashing gentlemen are all wearing hosen. Which the Ithyria characters might wear, though perhaps without the exaggerated codpieces…

In my free time (ha ha), when I am not writing or working on home improvement projects, one of my other hobbies is costuming. I’ve done quite a bit of costuming in my time, first as a cosplayer, and most recently as a member of the SCA. My favorite costumes have always been historical in nature. I love the giant side-pocket hoops of the Marie Antoinette era, the big fur sleeves of the Tudors, the graceful lines of a Victorian corset.

And a big part of all this costuming stuff is the research. It takes hours of searching for the right books and online resources, trying to decipher the so-old-fashioned-it’s-barely-recognizable English language of period texts, and pouring over galleries of museum photos, zooming in on all the details. In the process, one learns a lot of very useful things that come in handy as a writer… The types of fabrics and clothing styles most likely to be worn in a medieval or pirate-based story, for example.

The problem is, the terms used for fashion have changed so much over the years that the correct term for an item of clothing back then means something completely different now. For example, in a scene I was working on over the weekend for the new Ithyria book, I needed to describe a character’s clothing and ended up using the words “tunic” and “leggings.” Now, “tunic” is an acceptable word, since most modern readers know it as a simple shirt-like garment. But “leggings” bothers me. It’s very much a modern word, and describes a modern article of clothing that essentially looks like footless tights made of stretchy fabric. The correct word for the medieval equivalent, a fitted garment for the legs that is made from wool or linen cut on the bias so that it will stretch, is “hose.” Or “hosen,” perhaps.

But using that word, the modern reader is more likely to suddenly picture the character running about in a pair of decidedly non-medieval lycra pantyhose. I am already certain that my editor will not permit it. It’s too jarring–even if it IS the correct word. So “leggings” it is. And it’s really a small concession, in the grand scheme of things, but it annoys my research-obsessed costumer’s sensibilities.

I’ll give you another example. In Branded Ann, there’s a scene in which I had originally described a “pair of bodies.” This was a term used for the very early corsets, or precursors to corsets, and the garment is a stiffened bodice that usually did not contain the heavy boning or rigid structure of the corset as we know it today. A pair of bodies was a supportive piece of clothing (well, really it was two pieces laced together, hence the “pair”) worn by women to support the bust and perhaps provide some soft shaping. In edits, though, the phrase was altered to “pair of bodices.” Which is not incorrect either… It’s just not the same thing. I think the reasoning was that readers might be more than a little confused as to why Violet would be charmed by a gift of dead bodies in a clothing trunk… so the term needed to be modernized a little. I get it, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t wince a bit.

Or how about the term “cotehardie,” which is one of the most prevalent fashions of the middle ages, for both men and women? Can’t use it without a careful description, because it’s not a word we use in contemporary fashion vocabulary. Sigh.

Granted, I don’t make it a point to be obsessively historically accurate in any other part of my books. You’ll never hear me claim that my pirate story is a good resource for historical study… Writing is storytelling, and when there isn’t enough information out there about a detail that the story needs, I get to make it up. Hopefully believably, but still… And fantasy stories are, at best, historically inspired. With a wide, wide margin for imagination. So I probably ought to take a deep breath and let it go.

Which I will.

Right after I blog about it. ;)

Branded Ann on the LadyLike Book Club Podcast

Last week someone sent me a link to the LadyLike Book Club. This fabulous group of ladies get together monthly and record podcasts in which they discuss various lesbian romance novels, and as it turns out Branded Ann was their selection for February 2013. Their take on the book is delightful, and most of the time also hysterical. I was giggling pretty much through the whole thing. One warning, lots of spoilers… They pretty much go through the whole book with commentary. :)

Also, I was very VERY entertained by the dramatic readings. ^~

So you should all go check out their site IMMEDIATELY, as in addition to Branded Ann they also reviewed some of my personal favorites like Radclyffe’s Above All, Honor and Rebecca S. Buck’s The Locket and The Flintlock</>.

Ladylike behavior

Love this…

Recovering from an attack of life

Dear friends and readers, it has been far too long since my last update. Suffice to say in the last year and a half I have been through quite the wringer… With family drama, relationship drama, financial drama and job drama, just to name a few, and so I had my creative juices pretty tapped on the writing front for a long time. To top it off, this website was hacked a few months ago, so it took me forever to find a weekend in which I could sit down and rebuild. The new versions’s coming along nicely now though, and I rather like it… Feels a bit like a spring cleaning of my whole writing career, and a nice fresh start in which I can finish up the projects on my plate.

Won’t say too much more now as it is late on a work night, and my patient and long-suffering girlfriend has been waiting all weekend to spend some time together. But, I will point you all in the direction of the new individual book pages for Sword of the Guardian and Branded Ann, as there is some new content up for y’all including Author notes and FAQ’s, maps of Ithyria, character pages and playlists. Hope you’ll check them out and let me know what you think!

A Ghost Story

So excited that my latest short story, “Lucky Number Seven,” has been released as part of Bold Strokes Books’ new anthology Women of the Dark Streets: Lesbian Paranormal.

When I first set out to write something for this anthology, I was thinking something along the lines of a dark fairy tale adaptation or vampire tale. Not sure what my muse was up to, but I ended up with something very different. “Lucky Number Seven” is a ghost story – a woman loses her wife in a train bombing, and her only hope of catching the terrorists responsible is an FBI agent with a very unique talent.

I’m honored to be included alongside vampire, fairy, werewolf and ghost tales galore, written by many other BSB authors I’ve long admired: Meghan O’Brien, Nell Stark and Trinity Tam, Jane Fletcher, Lesley Davis, Winter Pennington, Ronica Black, L.T. Marie, Rebekah Weatherspoon, Rebecca S. Buck, Sheri Lewis Wohl, L.L. Raand, and more.

The book is available on the Bold Strokes Books website in both paperback and e-book formats. Hope you’ll check it out!