Marian Allen's Blog, page 385

Go Go Indie!

So I gots a new project. ‘Cause I don’t have enough to do.

Coupla other peeps and I are starting a publishing house. We don’t have any money; we’re kids, f’god sake. (Name that reference.) So we have an Indigogo account going under the name of Line by Lion. Cool, huh?

The reason? Our beloved Hydra Publications has had to cease … publication. Due to a near-Jobish series of happenstances, Frank simply ran out of spoons. Hydra took most of his spoonery and paid the least, so Hydra had to go. We all understand and agree (cos we lurvs ‘im), but we shake our fists in the face of Fate and shout defiance!

Not to put too fine a point upon it, we beg for money. Thusly:

Help us Fight Against Houseless Authors!!

Yes, you read that right.  Not homeless, houseless.  Sadly there are many fabulous authors with quality, finished works and careers on the rise who are set back when their publishing house closes.  We have found many authors in this situation, and have built a publishing house dedicated to not only making sure that these works remain available and promoted as they should be, but also to finding and publishing new works. Currently, we have ten titles ready for release, and many other opportunities available.   Represented authors  Marian Allen, K.A. DaVur, T Lee Harris, Etta Jean.

The purpose of the funding is twofold.  First, it is imperative that the authors – and their fans- are still able to access their books during this transitional period.  Therefore, a portion of the funding will be used to purchase an adequate number of books as they are currently printed, to be sure that there is no gap in availability.  Secondly, funds will be used in the startup costs of the new house.  Such costs include buying a domain, purchasing ISBNs, creating and printing catalogs for wholesale purchases, paying for new cover art, purchasing marketing materials, and obtaining booth space at high-visibility events.

So please, dear reader, hop on over and read the rest of the pitch and consider tossing a buck or two in the hat.

Commercial over. Thank yeh. Thank yeh ver’ muuuch.

Oh, meanwhile, my previously published books will still be available or, if temporarily out of print, will soon be available again.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character’s place of business folds and he or she has to pick up and begin again.

MA

Asparagus, Mon Amour

I got a big ol’ bag of asparagus at JayC the other day, and cooked it up. Here is the before picture: stems cooking first to tenderize them. Then I did a stir-fry in olive oil with chopped onions, chopped garlic, sliced mushrooms, the tender stems and the raw tips.

The after picture: That there orange thing is half of the bottom of a hugenormous butternut squash. I hollered it out, baked it, and stuffed it with cornbread dressing. Oh, those little seedy things in the stir-fry are the squash seeds. They’re better baked, but they weren’t bad fried. Just better baked.

To go along with it, we had this excellent brew gifted to us by the magnificent Jane Peyton, author of When Push Comes to Shove, book 1 of Callie London’s Vampire Adventures.Yes, that’s Werewolf Ale, “escaped from Britain.” Here’s a spot for it on You Tube.

You’re welcome.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: What kind of beer does a werewolf drink?

MA

Gardner’s Success No Deception

Dianne Lynn Gardner is celebrating the re-release of her popular YA fantasy, DECEPTION PEAK, Book 1 of the Ian’s Realm Saga, with a blog tour, and she’s starting it right here, right now!

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Dianne Gardner, an award winning author, is also an illustrator living in the Pacific Northwest, USA. She’s an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and the National League of American Pen Women. She is author to The Ian’s Realm Saga, Tales of the Four Wizards and is currently writing a screenplay of her fourth book Cassandra’s Castle all published by PDMI publishing.

She’s not only sharing information on her book today, she’s sharing some of her glorious illustrations, AND she’s letting her young protagonists, Ian and Abbi, have a say!

~ * ~

MA: How do your main characters feel about launching day, and about launching a new edition of Deception Peak?

DG: Ian? I think this question is for you.

Ian: Right! Well you know we’ve been through this before and personally, I mean, no offense, but after seeing how you explained my experience the first time through, I thought you could have left a lot of things out. Yeah, I was hesitant to step into the portal but I wasn’t scared. I just didn’t think it was a good idea.

Dad was right though. If you don’t take risks, you don’t learn and if you don’t learn, you don’t grow. So even though I protested I wanted to be with him, and to learn to be the man he was. I’m glad you made that more evident in this edition.

I’m also glad you kind of ironed things out between Abbi and I. There wasn’t any moment in my whole life that I didn’t like Abbi. I just didn’t know how to relate to her. She was really the only friend I had in high school and that was my fault. I was just too introverted.

The only thing that bothered me, really, was when she wanted to go into the Realm. I mean, I was still hesitant to go there myself. She’s definitely braver than me and much more spontaneous, more like my dad. Which made it awkward. I wasn’t used to sharing my dad. I think in this edition you brought that out more, especially that little spat we had when we were riding horseback. It wasn’t Abbi, well not exactly anyway. Not until she snuffed me.

I was a little anxious about you rewriting my story, but when I found out you weren’t telling everyone how whiney I was, I thought, “well good!” So in answer to your question about launch day-“Right on!”

DG: Abbi, how about you?

Abbi: Launching a book is probably the most exciting thing that can happen for a writer! I’m happy for you. I’m hoping to launch a book some day too. Not fiction, but a medical journal or something. You know I’m pursuing my dreams too, don’t you? Of course you do. Ian made that all possible for me, Your readers will find out about those things when the series is finished, if it ever is. You certainly are following the family with a fine point pen, aren’t you? (laughs).

I agree with Ian as far as the edits go. Of course, any time you show our affection for one another I’m going to love what you write. I agree that he had some issues in high school but he wasn’t scared. I mean, look how he stood up to Johnny Cramer! I always thought he was stronger than he gave himself credit for. Which might be why you mistook all those thoughts as fear, before.

He does have a temper though and it’s gotten him in trouble before. It’s good that you made that evident in the rewrite especially since it was his temper that turned the tide of events later in his life.

Just so you know, he has a handle on it now. (winks)

And I also think it’s really cool that our portraits and the other images are going to be on Kindle. (nudges Ian) What do you think?

Ian: (blushes) Yeah, whatever.

DG: Thanks Abbi and Ian for your input on the new edition of Deception Peak! I’m glad you like it and I hope fans enjoy it as much as you do!

~*~

Topping Amazon’s Paid Best Sellers list in children’s Sword and Sorcery
Nominated for The Endeavor Award 2012 Newly edited, Deception Peak, Amazon’s best seller two months in a row, has a face lift and it’s better than ever now. Having combed through the edits, added some action, toughened Ian up and even gave him a better attitude toward Abbi, (something his fans have been asking for), you won’t want to miss this version!

I think you’ll like what PDMI Rara Avis has done to spiff up Book I of the Ian’s Realm Saga! And now, The Tale of the Four Wizards, Patriarchs of the Realm Silvio is a bonus feature with this book (and the other shorts will be included in the sequels) so you don’t miss any of the tale.

“Within seconds, the light show vanished and Ian opened one eye. What he had experienced was not at all what he had expected. No unusual sensations fizzled through his body. He hadn’t felt like he was plummeting in an elevator, or blasting through space like in a rocket ship. It didn’t even feel like he might be racing down an escape chute on an airplane. No jet sounds, or hums, or buzzes, rattled in his ears.”

And so young Ian Wilson enters the Realm.

The first book of a trilogy, Deception Peak is a young adult adventure fantasy about a teenager, Ian Wilson, who follows his father through a portal that magically appears on their computer screen. They travel into a deceptively beautiful Realm, where horses run free, the wind sings prophetic melodies, and their computer avatars come to life.

But when the two are separated, Ian is abducted by a tribe of dragon worshipers and is forced to find his courage. As he struggles for his freedom and embarks on a perilous search to find his father, Ian meets the true peacekeepers of the Realm. It’s then that he learns there is a greater purpose for being there.

If you enjoy dragons, sorcery, wizards, magic, legend, and fantasy adventure, than this series is for you!

Books 2 and 3 The Dragon Shield and Rubies and Robbers are available now!

Dragon Shield Trailer

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Thanks, Dianne! Thanks, kids! I am wowed, as always, by your talent, Dianne. Best of luck with the blog tour.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Ask two of your characters what changes they wish you would make to the way you’ve written their story.

MA

#SampleSunday Scene From New Paperback

My science fiction “comedy of bad manners”, SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING, is now out in paperback!

Here’s a scene from it which I call “The Sap Actually Bought It.” In it, Connie Phelan has reluctantly taken charge of two natives of a planet where slavery is legal, but only in order to rescue them from Darryl, a manipulative bastard in her tourist group.

“The Sap Actually Bought It”
excerpt from SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING
by Marian Allen

Emtis Bulfa started after her, then hesitated, and spoke to Darryl. “Forgive me, if I state the obvious, but this is vitally important.”

“What is it?” Darryl said, his mind on other things.

“Don’t listen to her,” I said. “She might tell you something you need to know.”

He gave her what passed for his attention.

“Mem Phelan has claimed the slave, Tiph, in the name of the Empress. Interference with the slave, Tiph, is an Imperial crime, enforceable by extradition from anywhere in the Terran Union. Do you understand, Mem? There are some things you aliens can’t do and then run home and brag about.”

“I understand, I understand. I’ve had my fun out of Tiph, anyway. The Empress is welcome to her.”

“Yes, Mem.” The Registrar looked at Tiph, at Tosun, and at me, nodded, and left.

As for Tiph, her golden eyes were not only sparkling again, they were glittering.

“Shall I make him leave, Mistr–Managlawn? My pads are harmless, but I still have my teeth.”

“I’m going.” Darryl looked at me from under his lashes and grinned boyishly. “The Season’s only started. So far, I’ve never enjoyed one more. I’m going back to the party now–What a story this’ll make! Coming, Connie?”

“I’ll be along later. I wouldn’t want to steal your thunder.”

The sap actually bought it, and left looking pleased. What a chump. It was almost a shame to take advantage of him – almost.

He’d go back to the party and turn this series of random pratfalls into an uproarious story, and he’d never realize that, goofy as I was, I won the fight. He must have made it on the streets on meanness: it couldn’t have been brains.

Available in paperback.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character violates a conviction or principle so deep, violating it throws their very identity into question.

MA

#Caturday Nikita Needs YOU

Katya Graymalkin here.

In my first post, I mentioned that Mom and I had “met” a couple of cat bloggers and that they had shamed inspired her into letting me take over this blog on Saturdays. Their names are Elvira, Mistress of Felinity, and Mr. Nikita, The Opinionated Pussycat. We love reading their posts about their Daddy Kiril, one another, themselves, and their neighborhood in Houston.

Mr. Nikita has been poorly for several years. His new vet says he needs an array of tests to find out what’s wrong, since nothing they’ve tried so far has worked. See how he’s all shaven? Poor handsome boy. Mom claims I have a crush on Mr. Nikita, and maybe I do. So what? I’m allowed!

Miss Elvira and I put our heads together, and she changed the text under the Donate button on The Opinionated Pussycat blog to let people know their donations were being solicited to pay for Mr. Nikita’s tests and to find a food that he’ll eat enough of to regain his lost weight.

So here, again, is the link to the post about Mr. Nikita’s poor health and needs. Mom and I have been following these cats and their human for some time, now, and we know they’re legitimate. If you could just donate one piece of green paper or a jingly money, it would help.

People think cats are loners, but we help each other out a lot!

A WRITING PROMPT FOR ANIMALS: How much would your humans embarrass themselves for you?

KG

Conswag

You like that word? That’s a new word I made up. It means “stuff you get at conventions that makes you happy.”

Here is some free conswag I got at Context this past weekend.

The book by Murv Sellars and one of the F&SFs came in my swag bag that everybody got just for being there.

The other magazines were from a fellow who was disposing of his duplicates by putting them out for other people, rather than by selling them. One, you can see, has a Christmas novella by Connie Willis, one of my favorite writers of all time. Another features the fabulous Harlan Ellison. The other one has a story by Alan Arkin. Yes, THE Alan Arkin. Did you know he wrote spec fic? I didn’t.

I won R. J. Sullivan’s HAUNTING OBSESSION, which I’ve been jonesing for ever since I saw it last year. If there’s one thing I like more than getting something I want, it’s getting something I want for free.

Here are some things I bought, with one exception:Lyndi Alexander very generously GAVE me the mug promoting her Clan Elves of the Bitterroot series. Innit beautiful?

I bought Addie J. King’s THE GRIMM LEGACY, the first book of her fairy tale comedy series, featuring a talking frog who loves beer. I know, right? And how could I resist Brad Carter’s (dis)COMFORT FOOD, with the picture of the casserole with skulls peeking through the cheese, featuring a connection between cooking and magic?

I tried to resist the Furrybones, I really really did, but I couldn’t. I had to get a unicorn one and, in honor of Bossy, a black-and-white cow. Aren’t they strange? And cute? And, at the same time, very much NOT cute? So perfect.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Write something including a ghost, a frog, and something bitter.

MA

Mom’s Critter Adventures

Alas, I don’t have pictures, so you’ll just have to trust me that these things really happened.

My mother says she has a menagerie under her chair, and I do believe she does. At any rate, it’s somewhere, and the critters often appear from under her chair.

What critters, you ask?

Lessee. There have been blue-tailed skinks. There was a squirrel in the attic. There were the wasps that freakin’ ate through her ceiling. There were at least two teeny tiny snakes, one dead and one alive (dead, once the cats caught it). There have been generations of toads using the underside of the water dish on her front porch as their summer home. There was the big snake that was trying to crawl through the latticework to get under her porch, that she — my mother, I’m talking about — grabbed it by the tail and gave it a heart attack so, when she let go, it took off into the woods and fugeddabout the cool under the porch.

And, the other night, she took a lantern and showed me a precious little mouse behind her television. She said it had been playing with the cats all afternoon, but now she thought it was dead. She wanted me to take care of it because, she said, I’m the “little baby mousie expert.” So I put an empty plastic tub on top of it and slid a piece of cardboard under it.

It stopped pretending it was dead and cussed me six ways to Sunday. I carried it out and released it in the side yard. It didn’t even give me a tip. Maybe some day I’ll be caught in a net and it’ll come chew through the rope and free me. Hey, it could happen.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character comes into closer-than-comfortable contact with an animal.

MA

Context26 – Best. Event. Ever.

Thought it was going to be a disaster. There were miscommunications and mixups over panel assignments. I couldn’t find my room reservation information and the Holiday Inn 800 number said I had no reservation and made me one at double the convention price because all the convention rooms were booked.

Nevertheless, T and I loaded up our stuff and went, because we trust Context.

The trust was not misplaced. Nick Winks had assigned us panels where we were able to both learn and contribute. T did a reading that resulted in a book sale.

Oh, and the hotel? At the actual hotel, it turned out that I had made a reservation, they had two reservations for me, one at the low price and one at the high price, and they cancelled the high-priced one on the spot without the late-cancellation penalty. So here’s a shout-out to the Holiday Inn Worthington and its entire staff. Well done, you!

We saw some familiar faces and met some new friends.

Eric (Chris) Garrison and happy friend.

Michelle Brown and her evil cupcakes, about whom more anon.

R. J. Sullivan and his haunted books.

Denise Verrico apologizing for Cedric the badass vampire courtesan not being in attendance.

T, Tony Acree, Babs Mountjoy, and I took turns watching the table, with a little help from our fellow vendors.As you can possibly see, I sold out of The Fall of Onagros, Book 1 of the SAGE trilogy.

Many of us squoze into a Usual Suspects picture.A fine time was had by all. We can’t wait for next year’s Context, and we’re all Facebook befriending one another in the meantime.

Special bonus nonsense: Anyone (besides #4 daughter) who can tell me why I took this picture wins a big fat shiny no-prize.A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: There is a mixup in a reservation of some kind.

MA

Confit Food

Today is the first of the month, so I have a new Hot Flash — a tiny little story to add to my collection.

Okay. T. Lee Harris and I went to Context this past weekend. As usual, we took our own food. Hotel food is usually expensive and fast food is usually kinda bad, and T is gluten-intolerant, so taking our own is a good idea. T even has an electric cooler, so we’re generally good to go. A microwave in the room is nice, but we always have enough stuff that’s good cold that we can scrape by.

This time, I decided to make pork confit. I started with a nice little pork roast rubbed with Mrs. Dash’s Original Blend, a sliced Honeycrisp apple, a sliced sweet onion, some garlic cloves, and some oregano from our back yard.

Yes, really.

You cook confit long and slow, completely submerged in fat, with maybe a little water or, in this case, white wine. I started by melting 2 cups of lard in my crockpot. I added another cup or so of olive oil. When all that was good and hot, I slid in the pork roast and the other ingredients.

I could have used another cup of olive oil, because the pork roast drew up as it cooked, so some of it was above the liquid level and some of it was barely covered. The part that was covered most deeply was nicest.

After the oil had returned to heat, following the addition of the cold meat, I turned the heat down to LOW and cooked it, UNCOVERED, for 4 hours.

Let it cool in the fat. Remove the meat and store it in the refrigerator.

NOW, if you’re going to do a real confit, you pull off the fat and cover the meat with it. Here’s a good article about how to make confit. Since I wasn’t preserving this, I did NOT store the meat under fat. I stored the fat/juices in a bowl with a plate over the top. As a special bonus surprise, the fat not only congealed overnight, it stuck to the bottom of the plate; when I lifted the plate off, all the fat lifted off with it, leaving the lovely meat juices in the bowl.

So I was left with these products:

Meat juices; onion, garlic, and apple; pork roast chunks, pork roast slices. At Fatal Foodies today, I’m telling what I made from them.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: Characters take their own food somewhere they aren’t, strictly speaking, supposed to.

MA

Joanna Foreman Knows It All

And if there’s anything Joanna Foreman doesn’t know, and she needs or wants to know it, she by golly finds out! It’s one of the many things I love about her.

Joanna is a follow member of the Southern Indiana Writers’ Group and a fine writer.

Joanna Foreman was published by Quixote Press in 2008—a collection of ghost stories—in Ghosts of Interstate-65, which she has since had re-issued. Her stories Ghost Taxi, Lady of the Wigwam, and Vicarious Christmas have been published by Melange Books in 2011. See www.melange-books.com. Joanna has completed a memoir, THE KNOW-IT-ALL GIRL.

Knock, knock . . . Who’s there? . . . Jehovah’s Witnesses . . . Uh-oh.

That’s how it started for Joanna Foreman at the age of five. From there, she gave up almost everything in exchange for the promise of Everlasting Life in a Paradise on Earth. No Christmas tree, Independence Day fireworks, Halloween costumes. No birthday parties or chocolate Easter bunnies. She was not to pledge the flag in school or stand to sing the National Anthem. She wasn’t allowed to attend college or vote in political elections.

As a youth, she was instructed to dump her worldly friends and would not be allowed to date or marry outside of the religion. Not one to be dismayed, she cleverly found ways around religious obstacles, jumping undaunted through the hoops of man-made beliefs. She managed to make friends, family and happy memories.

When she backed away from religion’s grasp, her congregational comrades rapidly vanished—she stood entirely alone.

The author portrays herself merrily waltzing her way through life despite all religious speed bumps, until she has the emergent need for a blood transfusion after the birth of her third child. Obeying yet another rule, she refuses the treatment and survives to proudly wear an invisible halo which congregation members had bestowed upon her. She keeps her doubts secret until Emma, her best friend of twenty-five years, also refuses a transfusion, with tragic results. Cancer didn’t kill Emma—religion did.

The lies and back-stabbing that occur immediately after Emma’s death allow Joanna to finally see the real truth. She perseveres and endures, coming out of this cultish religion stronger and wiser. While she’d thought she knew it all, the answers Jehovah’s Witnesses spoon-fed her no longer satisfy. As she gains the freedom to think for herself and choose her own beliefs, she finds herself more content living in a world among millions of people who don’t have all the answers than trapped within parentheses with a few hundred-thousand know-it-alls.

You can visit Joanna’s website: www.joannaforeman.com, her blog Coming Home, and her Facebook Author Page: Joanna Foreman, Author Anti-Blog.

THE KNOW-IT-ALL GIRL is available in print and for Kindle.

A WRITING PROMPT FOR YOU: A character loses their religion.

MA