Elizabeth Reeve's Blog, page 2

Reviewers Like Whispers in Darkness

Whispers in Darkness, which contains my story, "The Dreams in the Laundromat," has received some really nice reviews! Two of them mention my work specifically, and I'm going to quote them here.

Amanda Gannon of Adventurotica described Whispers in Darkness as "a rock-solid anthology," and has written an in-depth review. Here's what she said about my story:

No description of this story's particulars can convey its appeal. It is definitely the odd story out; it's a college story, and the setting and voice are more frankly modern than any of the others. It's also a sweet story, not horrific at all. And it's extremely hot.

It's a beautiful exploration of the vulnerability of revealing yourself to another person – how we are all to some degree alien to ourselves and each other. It's odd that a Lovecraftian erotica story should be touching, but it really was; terrible secrets, if shared, can lead to great intimacy. And, apparently, mind-blowing tentacle sex. The attention to detail in the sex scene is first-rate. It feels real, and if it doesn't make you at least a little envious, I will mail you a dollar.

The author took a risk submitting a story that is not meant to be horrifying, and the editor took a chance including it. I am so glad they did, and enjoyed the pleasant surprise.

AncientHistory at Yog-Sothoth also wrote a review, saying of my story:

Short but brilliant, set in the modern day and reads like National Lampoon's sequel to The Dreams in the Witch House. Actually, this is probably the only story of the bunch I would love to see a sequel to, since the eponymous Laundromat is never visited directly in the story. Reeve's dialogue and college-think is clever and fun to read, and refreshingly honest for the brand of horny college student we all wish we'd run into. The phrase "Arkham-bad" has now entered my personal lexicon.

One of the other authors in the anthology, Annabeth Leong, described "The Dreams in the Laundromat" as "the sweetest, most romantic tentacle sex story I've ever read." (She includes a nice, lengthy excerpt from her story, "The Artist's Retreat," in that post which is well worth checking out, by the way – I love the way she echoes Lovecraft's writing style, and you can see a lot of that in the segment she's chosen.)

I'm glad to see that what I was aiming at with "The Dreams in the Laundromat" – weird, sexy, sweet (and more than a little goofy) – seems to have hit the mark with more than one reader. And I'm not gonna lie…the idea of writing a continuation of "The Dreams in the Laundromat" has occurred to me. We'll see!

Whispers in Darkness Cover

I have cover art to share again! Here's the cover for the upcoming Whispers in Darkness anthology, from Circlet Press, which will contain my story, "The Dreams in the Laundromat":

Tentacles!

Whispers in Darkness is a collection of erotica inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and should be available later this month.

Sense and Sensuality Released!

Circlet Press's Sense and Sensuality is finally available for purchase! Hooray! My story in this anthology is called "A Woman of Uncommon Accomplishment," and follows the adventures of Mary Bennet after the end of Pride and Prejudice, as she takes her interest in ponderous old books in a supernatural direction.

I wasn't sure I could – or wanted to – write this story when I started, since I'd never done anything historical before and was a little daunted by the research, but I had a hell of a lot of fun, and totally fell in love with my characters. (To the point where I started a novel that picks up where the short story ends, though I don't know what I'll do with it when I finish!) My beta readers loved them, too, and I'm proud to say that Mary and her incubus companion, Nick, won over at least one reader who is definitely not a fan of Regency-era fiction.

You can read an excerpt from "A Woman of Uncommon Accomplishment" on your way to purchasing Sense and Sensuality at Circlet Press, or at All Romance Ebooks. The anthology is also available at Amazon.com.

Read These: Cast the Cards and Unlocked

I always mean to write thoughtful, in-depth reviews of the awesome books I read – and then never have time, or when I do have time, I'm babying my wrists with a computer time-out because I just got off a writing binge. But I read two really good books lately, and by god, I'm gonna review them. With as much depth as I can cram into 200 words or fewer each.

Cast the Cards, edited by S.L. Armstrong:

This one has been on my list for ages, because it has one of my buddy Marie Carlson's stories in it. And it's a story that I didn't see any part of during the draft phases (unusual, for us), so I was looking forward to a nice surprise. I loved it, predictably. "Blazing Star" has had favorable mention in many reviews, for very good reason. Marie has a talent for writing short stories that are self-contained and satisfying, but take place inside what is clearly a richly layered, larger narrative. Whether she's actually developed more stories in any given world or not, her attention to backstory and world-building is fabulous, and it's easy to imagine that they're out there, waiting to be told.

The other stories in the collection were solid and enjoyable, though mostly not to my usual genre tastes. I liked them all, but I suspect they'd resonate better for readers who enjoy contemporary (as in, modern and not heavily speculative-flavored) stories more than I do. The other standout for me was Janine Ashbless's "The Grief of the Bond-Maid," which turns out to be the awesome Viking-inspired, symbolism-rich fantasy short that I never knew I always wanted.

Unlocked, by Courtney Milan:

OMFG. To use my friend Marianne's favorite descriptor: AMAZEBALLS. I often feel like historical romance novellas are either too short or too long – either things happen super-duper fast (instant love!), or else there's enough material for a really excellent short story…and then a lot of extraneous stuff, too.

But Milan nailed the length perfectly with Unlocked. She chose backstory elements that are familiar enough that she could put the focus on the particular details pertaining to her hero and heroine, making them feel unique and well-developed while still leaving space for the events of the story. And, awesomely, some room for a little growth for background characters, as well. I really want to say more about how thrilled I was by one particular development, but it would be a spoiler, so I'll desist. (Hint: it's the last scene before the epilogue!)

Anyway, if you like historicals and enjoy a well-paced shorter read, get yourself a copy of Unlocked. So worth it.

Sense and Sensuality Cover

The editor for the Sense and Sensuality anthology, J. Blackmore, emailed all of us a copy of the cover art for the anthology a little while ago, and I just realized I haven't gotten around to showing it off here.

Pretty, isn't it? The release date is probably going to be in late July – I'm so excited!

"Leila" Available for Purchase

One of my short stories is now available for purchase from Torquere Books! Here's the blurb:

When college student Megan hits the library, she's looking for sources for a paper on Carmilla, an early vampire story. But in gorgeous librarian Leila, she finds much, much more. It's no surprise that Leila haunts Megan's dreams, but as her fantasies heat up, she begins to wonder — is Leila really who she seems to be?

You can buy "Leila" at this link.

I said on my tumblr that "Leila" is kind of my love letter to literary analysis, and it's definitely my most meta-textual romance to date. If you've read Carmilla, you'll be able to see the ways I've borrowed and reinterpreted a couple of things. If you haven't and "Leila" has made you curious, you can check Carmilla out for yourself at Project Gutenberg, among other places.

Historical Romance Publication, Here I Come

J. Blackmore has announced the author lineup for Circlet Press's upcoming Sense and Sensuality anthology, so I think it's safe to go ahead and say… My story made it in!

I'm super-excited to be a part of the anthology, and even more excited to be able to share my story, "A Woman of Uncommon Accomplishment," with readers. I had a ridiculous amount of fun writing it, even though it was somewhat out of my usual genre range; I'm hoping that people will enjoy reading it at least as much.

"A Woman of Uncommon Accomplishment" picks up not too long after the end of Pride and Prejudice, and follows Mary Bennet as she discovers that magic is real, and sets about learning to use it. There are, of course, complications, the most alarming of which is an accidentally-summoned incubus who calls himself Nick and won't go away.

I'll share more as publication approaches!

For the Record

It's not my intent to discuss politics or current events beyond the realm of literature on this blog on anything like a regular basis. That's just not what I'm doing here. But the conversations surrounding the recent shooting in my hometown have made me feel like there's something I just have to say.

For the record, I'm mentally ill.

I don't mean in a "haha, she's so eccentric!" kind of way, either. I'm talking "takes multiple medications daily," and "sees both a therapist and a psychiatrist," and "is often depressed, and sometimes so manic she doesn't sleep for days," full-on bipolar disorder.

I'm mentally ill. I'm also a homeowner, a small business owner, and a taxpayer. I'm emotionally unstable. I'm also a wife, a daughter (with an excellent relationship with her parents, thanks), a friend, and a mentor. I could be described, not inaccurately, as being "of unsound mind." I have a college degree, and I'm a published author.

My point is not that I'm an exceptional crazy person – though I do think I'm pretty awesome, sometimes – but that it would be wrong to make assumptions about what kind of person I am and what my life is like based only on what you know – or think you know – about manic depression. And it would be wrong to assume that any given thing that I do is motivated by my illness, rather than by any of a number of other potential factors, singly or in combination.

Throwing around words like "loony" and "nutcase" and "whack-job," as though they're the sole and simple explanation behind a complex act is as ridiculous as suggesting that someone committed a crime because, say, he had a mustache.

Except there's an important difference: If you were to say that a violent criminal did what he did because of his facial hair, that wouldn't contribute to a pre-existing, massive stigma against the mustachioed in our society, having repercussions for everyone with an unshaven upper lip.

Whereas if you go around suggesting that people "should have known" that a guy was likely to kill a bunch of people "because he was obviously unstable" – well. You just made my life, and the lives of every other mentally ill person out there, harder. That bias already exists for us, making it difficult to make friends, hold jobs, and reach out for treatment, to name a few things – and you just added to it.

If you're interested in talking about rhetoric, and the power of language, don't forget that the meme of the violent lunatic is rhetorical, too.

And if you don't care about that, and all you want is to distance yourself from the horrific behavior of a fellow human being by insisting that his actions are somehow typical of mental illness, that he's an incomprehensible, less-than-human "psycho" -

You can call me and everyone like me a nutcase, or a whack-job, or whatever, I guess. But I'll have a few names to call you: Ableist. Ignorant. Bigot.

Just for the record.

Congratulations, Integgy!

Today's the 29th – time to pick a random winner for my tiny piece of the Fall Frenzy contest! I guess a lot of people use web-based randomizers for this sort of thing, but I am old school, and also happened to have a dice pouch right here on my desk. (Yes, I am that kind of geek.)

So, with four entrants, I rolled my D4, and the winner is… Commenter #4: Integgy! Congrats! I'm turning it over to Vivian Arend now, and you should get hooked up with your prize soon. I hope you enjoy the book!

It's Sure to Be Excessively Diverting

I've just completed a rough first draft of my very first attempt at writing historical romance. Hooray! It was an interesting process, filled with all-new kinds of research, and a lot of time staring at the blinking cursor of my word processor wondering what terms a well-bred young lady in the late 18th/early 19th century would use to describe a penis. (Note to self: remember this for the next time someone asks what you do for a living!)

I'll be doing a quick revision and clean-up this afternoon, and then I'll be sending the story off to first readers for their feedback. Revise a couple more times, submit to anthology, annnnd done! End of my historical romance career.

Except, apparently not. Whilst writing this story, I had a sudden, intense desire to take the main characters on another adventure. Perhaps a novel-length adventure. With action and intrigue as well as romance and demons. The working title is "Mary Bennet and Nick the Incubus Fight Crime," which should give you an idea of what I'm thinking, here.

And you know what would make this even more fun? If I write it in 30 days! That's right, dear readers – I'm doing NaNoWriMo. If you are, too, feel free to look me up. My user name is ElizaReeve. We can be buddies!

In the meantime, it's back to the research mines for me. I've got a copy of Hariette Wilson's memoirs and a highlighter, and I'm not afraid to use them.