Marian Allen's Blog, page 442

Friday Recommends – Good Stuff

First, I toot my own horn. More precisely, I announce someone else tooting my horn. The Masquerade Crew responded to my request for an unbiased review of FORCE OF HABIT with … drumroll, please … FIVE STARS! Here is the review, should you care to read it. The headline said, "The best bit about this book is the humor." As writers know, humor is tricky, so I'm pleased as punch that mine worked for them.

Now I'll get down to the business of tooting other people's horns for them.

Jeffrey Marks, list daddy of Murder Must Advertise, has issued the fourth edition of his marketing guide, INTENT TO SELL, this one with additional material on promotion through social networking. It's available in paper and for Kindle.

If you're better at marketing than I am (and who isn't?) you may be interested in this article on Using Pinterest Like A Pro. I find these articles, begin reading them with enthusiasm, then get worn out by the time I'm finished. The people who sell lots of books are the ones who go around the room shaking hands and making their work interesting and compelling to people. I just want to stand in the corner and smile weakly. Doesn't work, people. Does not work.

On that note, allow me to introduce the Blogging Ninja Captain, Alex J. Cavanaugh. He has about eleventy gazillion followers, and he writes dynamite science fiction, too. Ka-BOOM! He's appearing today at Sia McKye Over Coffee on the topic of how writing has changed his life. Be told: Irish music plays constantly at that site. I love it, but you may not, so … be told.

Be sure to mark your calendars for FandomFest2012. I'll be there, and so will Bruce Campbell! Sean Astin! John Rhys-Davies! Wo0t!!

WRITING PROMPT: A character has to step outside of his or her social or professional comfort zone.

MA

A Sad Truth

There are some books I just can't "read" in audio, not even if I'm the one doing the reading. And, apparently, there are some books I can't read electronically. I've come across several since I got my eReader which have had many rave reviews, but I couldn't finish them or, having finished them, had no idea what had happened in them.

I've tried to analyze what they have in common and how they differ from the many books I've loved when I read them by voice or by electron, but I can't isolate either element.

Alas for me! Now I have to save my pennies to buy some physical books so I can share the joy. …Pay … money …. ~MomGoth faints~

WRITING PROMPT: A character fails to share an emotion felt by all around him or her and doesn't understand why.

MA

Straw Into Gold

That's a fancy-schmancy way of saying "Cheese Straws". I've been hearing about cheese straws since back when Hilda Rumpole raved about those little cheesy things Dodo Mackintosh makes. Every recipe for them I found talked about how easy and quick they are to make. Right up my alley, yes?

But they appear to be a party food, which means that all the recipes made eleventy-gazillion servings. I was like, "NnnnnnnnnnnI don't think so."

Then (happy ending!) the wonders of the Internet happened! The clouds of cute kitty pictures parted and I found a recipe for cheese straws on Allrecipes.com, a brilliant site that lets you adjust the number of servings you want.

I adjusted to two.

Cheese Straws For Two

1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (or any cheese you like)
1-1/2 teaspoons margarine
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (not just no, but HELL no)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon water

Mix everything but the water until well blended. Add water a little at a time to form a stiff dough. Roll out and cut. Allrecipes says "roll out slightly thicker than pencil-shaped sticks", but I found that singularly uninformative. I rolled mine out slightly thicker than Popsicle sticks. Make 'em as thick as you want 'em. Just remember, the thicker they are, the longer they'll take to cook through and the more likely they are to scorch on the outside.

Allrecipes also says to grease the baking pan, but I must have blinked because I didn't read that part and didn't do it. After they cooled slightly, they popped off just fine.

Bake at 400F for 5 or more minutes. They should have puffed up a little and be golden. Mine took about 10 minutes.

And good? YES, they were good! Even Charlie remarked on it, and he's the man who told one of our kids who was complaining about dinner, "Everything doesn't have to taste good to eat it."

The other stuff in the picture is Jasmine rice, corn, lima beans, and pesto. It was very good, too.

WRITING PROMPT: A character is spurred to do something by a casual remark in a book.

MA

Project X Underway

I'm putting together another collection of my short stories. All the stories will have birds and/or animals in them, some real and some not-so-real. I'm struggling with the title right now.

The stories in it will be:

The Day the Dog Ate Popcorn

Out of the Cradle

Craw

Dog Show

Follow Your Bliss

For a Few Bottles More

Millefleurs

Truth in a Tale

Born Again

Essay About My Mother

Turtle Love

Home on the Range

Meanwhile, I'm posting today at Fatal Foodies: Tofu Is Not A Radioactive Japanese Monster.

WRITING PROMPT: How do you choose titles for your books or stories, website or posts? If you don't write or blog, if you had to choose a new name, how would you go about it?

MA

Floyd Hyatt Gets Feisty

By that I mean he's discussing Raymond Feist's World of Midkemia. Take it away, Mr. Floyd!

 

Cover linked to Feist's official site

The Riftwar Saga (Magician, Silverthorn, A Darkness At Sethanon.)

The Serpentwar Saga (Shadow of a dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King, Shards of a Broken Crown.) Prince of the blood, The King's Buccaneer)

The RiftWar Legacy Series (Krondor: The Betrayal, The Assassins, Tear of The Gods)

Conclaive of Shadows Series (Talon of the Silver Hawk, King of Foxes, Exiles Return). Various Publishers, Inc Harper Collins, Eos, Avon, Doubleday, Barne & Noble Books. Magician first release 1982, Exiles Return released 2005

Author: Raymond E. Feist

There are probably other editions besides the 15 documented above. Written mostly as trilogies, all the above works deal with the same place, Feist's just post-barbaric World of Midkemia, and its various kingdoms.

Shown above in their approximate order of release, they tend to be chronologically ordered tales, with each group of three following one character driven plot to its conclusion. This is another of those serial-type Multiple sets, that take advantage of a well developed World build to provide a stage for endless dramas to be played out upon.

Begun over a quarter century ago, Feist continues to add to its venue. This group of Horse soldier era, buckle-swashing fantasy adventure fiction is written in the third person.

The number of different publishers involved printing this series makes it hard to develop a book list for it, however its popularity has kept it in print continuously for the twenty-five years of its development, and spawned several electronic graphic games of notable popularity.

Feist is also an active collaborative writer, having co-authored a series of works with Janny Wurts. There is no reason to believe we have seen all of this series yet…

Overview:

Mr. Feist takes a rather Dickens-ish approach to the development of his characters, as through most of his books, we trace his changing, but overlapping characters from a very young age through their maturity, and often, final demise. It is this feature that gives his tales their individuality, and focus.

Feist's Protagonists are as often at odds with each other as with their plotted antagonists. The style is trek adventure, concerned with the growth and maintenance of Empire. An overcast of Spy vs. Spy sub-plotting is favored by Feist in many of there tales. Almost any of his works can be read stand alone, but they are best read Trilogy at a time, I find. A little more convoluted than some, his works will require the attention of the reader to follow well. The story lines provide satisfying conclusions usually impacting multiple plot issues.

Sorcery, sword and shield, political, and love interests mix well under Feist's hand, providing well balanced reading for the patient.

Thank you, Mr. Hyatt, for this review of yet another major speculative fiction author I haven't tried yet, but now want to!

Next week, the treat we've all been waiting for: THE DISKWORLD!

WRITIING PROMPT: How do you feel about horses? I mean, really think about that.

MA

#SampleSunday – Haiku

I love writing haiku. Here are a few I've done from time to time.

Photo by Marian Allen

Velvet butterflies,

Your feet are aglint with dew,

The sun's displayed gems.

A swath of sapphire! –

My wanton parakeet flies

Among the sparrows.

Woods.  Distant rifles.  I smile

And walk on.  Then, at my feet,

The bloodied feather.

The sun, shattered on

The wind-faceted water,

Blinds the cold-eyed fish.

Alone, I listen

For the green voices of Spring.

I will not hear them.

On a snow-lapped day

Someone has brought violets

Tied with jade ribbon.

WRITING PROMPT: What would redeem a bad day for you? For any three of your characters?

MA

Still Here

It's tornado season here in the USA. That's the trouble with spring: It brings us tornadoes. There's a wide swath of the continent that's called Tornado Alley, because

Picture from Wikipedia

that's the chunk of the country where tornadoes are most frequent.

We're in it.

It's so weird: We'll hear about an earthquake in California or a hurricane on the coast, and we look at each other and say, "If I lived there, I'd move." And then we turn on the weather channel to see how close the tornado is and if it's time to head for shelter.

So yesterday, they said the storms would move in around 2:00 in the afternoon, just the time I told Mom I would come help her with some computer stuff. I went there and did that, and talked her into coming back to my house instead of our going into her basement. We have storm parties at our house.

It was chilly in our basement, so Charlie and I wrapped Mom up in jackets and blankets. We had water and graham crackers and the radio. I brought the book I was reading aloud and continued the story while the wind and rain whipped around like a couple of cats hopped up on catnip.

When it was past, I made supper and took Mom home for our regular evening visit.

The worst storms went north of us and south of us, leaving us horrified and heartbroken at the devastation suffered by so many. For us, it was just another spring day in Tornado Alley.

WRITING PROMPT: How does your main character deal with a potentially ruinous and fatal storm?

MA

Friday Recommends – Random

First, I have a new free science fiction short story up at #amwriting. Please click this #amwriting link and enjoy. This is also my assignment for the March Quills and Quibbles writers' group meeting, so…. You know what they say: Two birds in the hand are better than being stoned. Or something.

If you're in the Corydon, Indiana area, you seriously need to eat at The Green Door. It is beyond good.

My grandfather used to tell a joke about a little boy who always wanted more to eat. He would finish a meal by saying, "That was real good, what there was of it." The family was going to have dinner with new friends, and his mother forbade him to say or imply that he hadn't had enough. So, when dinner was over, the boy looked at her and nodded dutifully. Then he said, "Plenty of it, such as it was."

I also remember a tale from the American Short Story program, in which a character would refuse additional helpings by saying, "I've had an elegant sufficiency. Any more would be a superfluity."

At The Green Door, there's an elegant sufficiency of it AND it's superb. The menu — which is different every day — is posted on their web site. But, if you really want to hear all about food from a chef's point of view, you NEED to read Chef Jesse's False Pretensions version. His words are a feast in themselves.

Mark your calendars for That Book Place's Author's Fair on the weekend of March 17th. The Southern Indiana Writers Group and I will be there on the 17th. Maybe next year, we'll do the weekend. That's in Madison, Indiana.

We're also gearing up for Louisville, Kentucky's FandomFest the end of June. Bruce Campbell is gonna be there! I shall refrain from greeting him with, "Howdy, Brrrrrrisco!" I shall. I will!

It's thundering, so I need to disconnect before I fry my modem.

WRITING PROMPT: Does your main character prefer quality or quantity? In everything, or in selected things?

MA

Hot Flashes

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It's the first of the month, so here's my Monthly Update. There's a new Hot Flash, so please check that out.

Another hot flash, of the news variety: I'm taking a class on formatting your manuscript for Kindle and Smashwords — well, I'm supposedly teaching the one on Smashwords, ha ha. Anyway, this means I'm putting together another collection.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an agenda of action items (or, as we used to say back in the day, a To-Do List) as long as my upper dexter appendage (my right arm).

WRITING PROMPT: Write a story in 50 words or fewer.

MA

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I Dig Edith Maxwell

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I'm very happy to introduce to you my online friend Edith Maxwell, whom I believe I met during the 2011 April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. She has kindly agreed to share some happy news here, as well as a recipe from her forthcoming book.

For those who don't savvy the lingo, "Locavore" means someone who eats locally (as much as possible) and CSA is Community Supported Agriculture (often meaning people pay a set amount per growing season for a share of a farm's output). You buy into a CSA and get a box every week or two weeks or month containing your share of whatever is in season: fruit, veg, maybe eggs or meat or flowers, depending on the farm you choose. Click here for 10 Ways To Become A Locavore.

Now, take it away, Edith!

Thanks for asking me over, Marian!

I'm thrilled to announce that I have a contract for a cozy Local Foods Mystery series with Kensington Publishing. The first book, A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die, was agented by John Talbot and is due to be released in Spring, 2013. I farmed and co-owned a certified-organic farm a couple of decades ago for some years, and currently eat locally with fervor, so the topic was an easy fit. I still have a small vegetable and herb garden, and am well acquainted with the language and tensions of a farmer's life. I write about an organic farmer because that's what I know best, and it seems that many people who really want to eat local food also prefer organic growing methods.

At the end of my farming days before I became a technical writer, I had written about two-thirds of a mystery novel set on an organic farm. I use much of the world I set up in that book, including Cameron Flaherty, the farmer-protagonist, in the current series. I've added a Locavore Club and a CSA and writing it with a fresh eye, but it has given me a head start on the first book. One of farm customers in the book has read Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and has also vowed to eat locally for a year.

As for research, the local foods movement is all around us. I joined a late-season CSA in the fall to get a feeling for a large farm's CSA practices as the New England season wanes. I shop at local farms and pick-your-own operations, and grieve when they close in November, although winter Farmer's Markets have sprung up around the region, including in several towns nearby. My town has a brewery that makes a beer called Five-Mile Ale. It uses primarily ingredients from Massachusetts and at least one grown within five miles of town. There are also two wineries in neighboring towns, and a distillery in town. Boston is about to build a permanent Farmers' Market that will feature only products from Massachusetts. You pretty much can't turn around without running into local-food devotees.

A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die takes place in early June. The farming season gets complicated when Cam finds her recently-fired farmworker dead in her greenhouse with a pitchfork through the neck. When the police fail to make progress, Cam, a former software engineer, has to overcome her discomfort with social interaction to confront a local anti-immigrant militia and an amorous local chef before she finally tracks down the killer. The series will include recipes appropriate to the season in which the book takes place.  

I currently reside in Ipswich, Massachusetts, but am originally a 4th-generation Californian. I have two grown sons, and live in an antique house with my beau, our four cats, and several fine specimens of garden statuary.

Since childhood, I've written fiction, journalistic news and features, academic articles, essays, memoir, and now software documentation as my day job. Fiction is my passion, though. I've written two dozen short stories, with four published and one more accepted. My first finished mystery, Speaking of Murder, featuring Linguistics Professor Lauren Rousseau, a Quaker, is being considered for publication by several independent presses, and is a finalist in the Linda Howard Award for Excellence in the Romantic Suspense category. The sequel to Speaking of Murder is almost done, too.

Look for me as Edith M. Maxwell on Facebook, and @edithmaxwell on Twitter. I blog weekly at http://www.edithmaxwell.com/.

Here's a recipe from the book.

Cam's Marinated Asparagus

Ingredients:

1 pound farm-fresh asparagus
1 clove garlic
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
1 Tbsp fresh chives, finely minced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/8 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp fresh-squeezed lemon juice or wine vinegar (or a mix)
1/4 cup good-quality olive oil
Salt and pepper

1.Snap the bottoms off the stalks of asparagus and wash the stalks.

2.Place asparagus in a steamer (microwave or stovetop) with water and steam several minutes until just bright green. The stalks should still be crisp.

3.Plunge in cold water for one minute to stop the cooking, then remove to a colander.

4.Press the clove of garlic through a garlic press into a small bowl.

5.Add the mustard, herbs, and lemon juice or vinegar, and whisk to combine.

6.Drizzle in the olive oil slowly, whisking as you go.

7.Add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

8.Dry the asparagus with a clean dishtowel.

9.Place asparagus pointing the same direction on a plate, add the dressing, and roll the stalks to coat them.

Oh, my gosh, that sounds good! I can't wait for the asparagus to come in and the books to come out!

WRITING PROMPT: Are there any foods that your main character will only eat fresh?

MA

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