Marian Allen's Blog, page 453
November 19, 2011
I Did NOT Forget the Contest! I Did NOT!
I ran a contest that ended October 31. It had prizes. It had entrants. But I went to Magna cum Murder Crime Writers' Festival over that last weekend of October and then it was NaNoWriMo and the dog ate the entries and I ran out of gas and yada yada yada.
Anyway, here were the prizes:
a copy of EEL'S REVERENCE (eBook) Selected by first-drawn winner Alex J. Cavanaugha copy of FORCE OF HABIT (eBook)
a copy of LONNIE, ME AND THE HOUND OF HELL (eBook)
a copy of THE KING OF CHEROKEE CREEK (eBook)
a copy of MA'S MONTHLY HOT FLASHES: 2002-2007 (eBook)
a MomGoth's Sweet Little Baby Angels pin
the name of your choice in the story I write to promote my next eBook release, SIDESHOW IN THE CENTER RING. Holly Jahangiri, who won a part in "By the Book" in the last contest, called it, "Best. Prize. Ever."
And here are the winners, being contacted one-by-one:
Alex J. Cavanaugh
Holly Jahangiri
Denise at Goodreads
Carol Preflatish
Leslie R. Lee
Sarah E. Glenn
Bodie Parkhurst
Congratulations, winners!
WRITING PROMPT: Write a bad guy who is somebody's Sweet Little Baby Angel.
MA
November 18, 2011
Bonus Follow Friday – MORE HOLLY!!
Holly Jahangiri, the real one, has interviewed Holly Jahangiri, the character in my FREE story, "By the Book" (link below)! Read it and weep (from laughter).
I felt some trepidation about doing this interview, and the occasional creaking and banging from the underbelly of the space vessel St Gregory the Wonderworker – more commonly referred to by its young crew as the Uncle Gus – did nothing to calm my nerves. It is very disorienting to travel between alternative universes, and I could not shake the old Terran terror at the idea of causing some paradoxical calamity upon meeting myself in this one. Author Marian Allen assured me that the fiber of the universal matrix would not collapse and bring us some sort of cosmic-level mash-up, but having grown up with such urban legends and pulpy, hyperbolic sci-fi novels, I could not shake the feeling of impending doom and possible implosion.
"They are ready for you, Ven Jahangiri," said the Gilhoolie woman, Tetra. She reached out to help me off the contraption known as a Floatachair, where I had curled up in a near fetal position without even realizing it.
"Yes, well, this ought to be fun," I said, mustering a wan smile.
"Yes. It ought to be," she agreed. Together, we made our way to the Transfer Dock. I balked at my first sight of the Transfer Module, wondering if this would be like the transporter in Star Trek or that horrid invention from The Fly. I didn't want to end up with eight eyes, able only to eat and digest food I'd chewed and regurgitated first. "Come, stand over here," said Tetra. "Everyone is a little nervous the first time. It will most likely be fine," she added reassuringly. I turned to the nearest trash can and practiced the regurgitating part while the technicians pretended to fiddle with the nobs and pointedly did not notice my disgrace.
A few seconds later, I was standing in the parlor of a Llannonninn Living Library furnished, oddly enough, like an English boarding house, circa 1901. Anachronistic knick-knacks were scattered about on shelves, which were curiously devoid of books. A little woman whom I assumed to be the parlormaid held out her hand. Surely she did not expect a tip, having just wordlessly arrived and having done nothing to alleviate the disorientation I felt upon having just slid my particles through a wormhole. The least she could have done was to offer stiff drink.
"Your card?" she prompted.
"Oh! Yes, of course." I fished about in my pockets and retrieved a slightly crumpled business card. Parlormaid Tambar Miznalia took it with a sniff and disappeared. A moment later, I came quickly down the staircase in front of myself. If I hadn't felt disoriented a moment ago, I would be thoroughly gobsmacked by now.
"Me?" I gasped.
"No, me!" she exclaimed with an impish grin. "I have been so looking forward to meeting myself!" She motioned me over to a thickly stuffed armchair upholstered in a very flowery floral pattern.
I tugged a copper filigree recording locket from under my shirt and asked, "Do you mind? It's much easier than taking notes the old fashioned way…"
"Oh, Self-from-a-Distant-Planet," said Assistant Librarian Holly Jahangiri, "all this is just a setting, as you'd find in any good book! We do have computer technology here. And sometimes, I even wear slacks – I just enjoy dressing to fit my surroundings."
Now I felt as if I'd stepped back into a Terran RenFaire, or a community theatre, and I had a sudden urge to examine the walls and search for blocking tape. From the chair next to myself, I smiled knowingly and almost blurted, "Stop that!"
Best to begin the interview, I thought, and pressed the button on my recording locket. "So, tell me, Holly, what is a 'Living Library'?"
Assistant Librarian Holly Jahangiri nodded, expecting the question, and called to the kitchen, "Er, Three Men in a Boat, could you come here a second?"
My jaw dropped as a proper English gent wearing a ruffled pink cook's apron emerged. "I say!" he exclaimed, upon seeing me there. "Do we have guests for lunch?"
"Only if Montmorency can refrain from adding freshly-killed water rat to the stew," warned Holly. Her—the Llannonninn one, not me.
"Montmorency?" I asked.
"This, Terran Holly, is 'Three Men and a Boat, To Say Nothing of the Dog.' He is what we call a Living Book. Practically reads himself," she added. "Montmorency is the dog we don't speak of. Right, then, a guest for lunch – thank you, Three Men in a Boat." The man returned to the kitchen, where much banging of pots ensued.
"I see," I said, seeing nothing at all.
"I think she needs cake," said Assistant Librarian Holly. When Parlormaid Tambar Miznalia reappeared with cake and tea, wearing the ruffled pink apron and blushing madly, I finally did see – quite clearly.
"Thank you," I said.
"So, Assistant Librarian Holly Jahangiri, I understand that you are originally from the Meadow of Flowers?"
"How on Terra did you guess?"
"I didn't guess, exactly. I mean, I did read Marian Allen's excellent accounts of life on Llannonn – "By the Book," and Force of Habit – but if I'd had to guess, I'd say the spikeflower behind your ear, and the purple feather boa draped over the divan, would be clues."
I—she—applauded with apparent delight. "You read, too!?"
I didn't know whether to laugh or sniff haughtily at the implied insult.
"I'm sorry," said Assistant Librarian Holly. "It's just…so many writers don't, these days." A small crowd of people in various period costumes had gathered at the sound of her applause and now stood nodding solemnly at me. "I think they would like to read themselves to you," said Assistant Librarian Holly Jahangiri. The people continued to nod until they reminded me of bobble-heads on the dashboard of a '57 Chevy.
"I see. We're never going to get this interview done, are we?"
"Probably not. Best you just recommend to your readers that they check out Marian's story – 'By the Book' – and then, if that's piqued their curiosity at all, they ought to read her seminal work on Llannonninn culture, Force of Habit. I highly recommend it."
"Wait, you said 'Buy the book,' but isn't it free?"
"No, silly Self, 'By the Book' is free. Force of Habit is THREE – as in three Terran dollars."
"Actually, it's only $2.99," I said, double-checking the holographic stacks on my sat phone.
"A bargain!" I exclaimed. "And now, it's time for lunch…"
Holly Jahangiri is a technical communicator, social media analyticator, children's book author with 4RV Publishing (Trockle, and A Puppy, Not a Guppy), blogger, happy wife and mom living in Houston, Texas. She would really appreciate it if you would read her post, Good Goals Gone Bad on TheNextGoal.com.
WRITING PROMPT: Interview your main character. Now have your main character interview you. What would you want that character to know about you? What would you like to fudge or hide?
MA
Friday Recommends – It's All About Holly
Holly Jahangiri (The real one, not the character in my FREE STORY "By the Book") has been posting on a new "Surviving the Blog" blog called The Next Goal – Leapfrogging Through Life's Challenges. It's a motivational site, but it doesn't just try to juice you up, it offers techniques to help you analyze what you want and work out ways to, as Garrison Keillor says, "get up and do what needs to be done".
8 Tips to Get in Fighting Shape is a good short-list for preparing yourself physically (not really fighting) for a life challenge you see looming.
Make All Your Goals SMART Goals gives you a five-part analysis of setting achievable goals that can be aimed for and won.
One of These Days, I'm Going to Write a Book is a post on excuses for not writing a book. INNOCENTS AND DEMONS is the result of her blowing away those excuses. It's also a love song to National Novel Writing Month.
Good Goals Gone Bad explores the toxic side of goals that don't include a human component: "do this while maintaining my integrity and relationships" is the way to go.
That's just a sample of Holly's posts. Her team mates have written worthy posts as well, but Holly is MY one. I recommend her highly.
Oh, and she just posted this on using QR codes to promote your book.
WRITING PROMPT: Write a character who suddenly realizes he or she has lost sight of important factors in his/her life in pursuit of a highly worthy goal.
MA
November 17, 2011
A Very Short Dither
This happens every now and then. This iteration was brought on by the fabulous Peggy DeKay of The Business Of Writing Today. She gave a talk on self-publishing to the Corydon writers' group, Quills and Quibble, last night. Her advice on blogs for writers:
Have one. Check
Set up an RSS feed so people can subscribe to it. Check
Post regularly. Check
Not every day. Ch– Excuse me?
She said posting every day causes reader fatigue. I'm like, "I'm writing the freakin' stuff! If I ain't tired, where do they get off bein' tired?"
But that's what the lady said.
I know what she means: I subscribe to a world of bloggers, some of whom post every day. And you know what? Some of them I read every post, and some of them I read the ones with the headlines that intrigue me.
So I'm asking again. I enjoy posting every day, but I'm thinking of my subscribers. Would it be better for you if I pare this down to, say, four days a week: Writing Monday, Food Wednesday, Friday Recommends and Sample Sunday? Or are you content to do as I do, and read what you want to read and skip what you don't want to read?
WRITING PROMPT: Someone tells a character he or she spends too much time with a third person, that the third person will get tired of seeing him or her.
MA
November 16, 2011
Am I Sad Or Not? Only Time Will Tell
Got a shock on Facebook yesterday, when I saw this:
As you may have heard, there is change in the air at Heine Brothers' Coffee. Gary Heine recently sold his half of the business to me, and now we are merging with VINT Coffee. For now, there will not be any changes to either HBC or VINT stores. We remain 100% locally owned and operated, and our commitment to the Louisville community and the many non-profits we support will be stronger than ever. Our focus will continue to be on treating people and the planet with respect and dignity, and on giving back where ever we can. We truly appreciate the support we get from Louisville – we're grateful to be in the coffee house business in such a wonderful town.
Mike Mays, Co-founder, Heine Brothers' Coffee
VINT is the coffee house formerly known as Java Brewing Co., where my friend Jane and I go for coffee after we meet for lunch. "Our" barista (shouldn't it be baristo, if it's a guy?), Cody, is still there being all awesome, so maybe it'll be all right for Heine Brothers to vanish under the VINT umbrella.
It hasn't been settled, to my knowledge, if Heine Brothers will retain its name and logo, but that's the smallest thing. It isn't Heine Brothers anymore, because there are no Heine brothers involved in it.
So, on the whole, I'm sad. Here's hoping VINT is as good for the people of Louisville and the fair trade farmers as Heine Brothers has been.
WRITING PROMPT: A landmark business, dear to your main character, changes hands. How would the new management win your character over?
MA
November 15, 2011
What Does It Mean To Be Safe?
This is a question I, as someone with a chronic anxiety disorder, ask a lot. I had to sit down and have some long, hard thinks about it when I had a kid, because I certainly wanted her to be safe, but I didn't want to communicate my own pathology to her.
[image error]WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAFE from Little Pickle Press would have helped with that. The summary for the book says this:
Children need easy guidelines to help them understand how to protect themselves and feel secure in their environments. Rana DiOrio's newest addition to her award-winning series explores physical, emotional, social and cyber safety in unthreatening ways that spark meaningful conversation between adults and children about staying safe.
Wouldn't that have been useful for me? I think it would have been. This book begins with a few giggles, illustrating some the definitions of "safe" this book is not about. When adult and child are relaxed and familiar with the children they'll see through the book — and the ubiquitous turtle they can enjoy finding in every picture — the information slips in like the aroma of chocolate chip cookies.
This book would have been particularly useful for my particular child. When the first words she speaks to her preschool teacher are, "I'm tough as King Kong," you know she isn't going to listen to "Don't do this or you could hurt yourself."
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE SAFE puts everything on an empowering basis. It isn't about staying safe, it's about making yourself and others safe. My kid would totally have gone for that. I was always all, "If you do this thing, a bad thing could happen to you," and she was always all, "No, it wouldn't. I wouldn't let it." This book is about telling your kid she (or he) is smart and strong and wise and has good judgement, so of course he or she will be safe because of course he or she will think in these smart and strong and wise and well-judged categories.
And that's another thing I like about this book, and that my kid would have liked. The book doesn't say, "Don't get into a river with a strong current," it shows a picture of a river with a fast current and says, [Being safe means] "…respecting the power of things that could harm you." That would have led to a discussion about things with the power to harm and active ways to show respect (not be afraid of, which my kid would have rejected), and that would have helped teach her to recognize and respect all such things, not just the things I remembered to mention.
A diverse cast of characters, beautiful illustrations and the use of green technology to produce a superior product are also plusses.
Highly recommended.
WRITING PROMPT: Is your main character fearful or fearless or something in between? Would he or she want to pass on that quality to a young person or not?
MA
November 14, 2011
Interview With Elizabeth Loraine, of the Royal Blood Chronicles
[image error]I'm getting awfully vampirey around here. Cedric last week, now Royal Blood Chronicler Elizabeth Loraine today. I think it's the increasing length of the nights that's getting to me.
Ms. Loraine's latest book is part of a new series, though: The Collier series.
Abigail Black, an heiress from Memphis is on the run from her abusive boyfriend, Dallas. In the process she finds out that there is a force pulling her towards something, and someone, that she thought only existed in her dreams.
Another page turning adventure from Elizabeth Loraine. Phantom Lives intertwines the modern world with the post Civil War world of Collier, a plantation Abigail had dreamt about her entire life. Now she is about to find out why. Another fantasy world of spirits and immortals is built in a way which fans of Ms Loraine's will again thoroughly enjoy. Find out who Abigail was in the past and how it changes everything.
I "met" Elizabeth through our mutual acquaintance Bertena Varney. She was kind enough to answer these questions for me.
Can you say how your main character first occurred to you and how he or she evolved from that first spark to a full character?
Abbi is a character that had to have strength that she never knew she had. She has always let others make decisions for her, but finds that she can decide to take her life back. She evolves because she is thrust into a life that she never fathomed.
Did you choose your subject, or did your subject choose you?
I have always wanted to write a novel using past lives. I had the same dream over and over again as a child so it was natural for me to draw upon that to write this fantasy novel.
How do you work?
I am a pantser not a plotter, once I have an idea I do the research needed and then I just start to write.
Are you involved with email lists and/or social media? Why or why not?
No lists. I have my Facebook pages and I love talking to people about everything on it. I have a Twitter account, but I don't use it that often.
If you could have an evening with one fictional character, your own or someone else's, who would it be and why?
I would love to be invited to one of the royal parties that Katrina and the other Protectors attend in my vampire series, Royal Blood Chronicles. That would be fun!
Thanks, Elizabeth! Please visit Elizabeth's web site for an excerpt from KATRINA and for buy links to her Royal Blood books.
PHANTOM LIVES is available for Kindle at the most pleasant price of $2.99.
WRITING PROMPT: What are the drawbacks of being made a vampire or otherwise unchanging as an adolescent?
MA
November 13, 2011
Sample Sunday – Sanctuary
A love story. Yes, really.
Sanctuary
by Marian Allen
Brinna and Jamal threaded the dark, narrow streets, lit only by the candles and firelight from the buildings they passed.
As the building they sought swam into view through the gloom, Brinna gasped and said, "I forgot the password!"
"I didn't. Don't worry, Sweetheart."
Jamal winked at her and knocked at the door.
A peephole slid open. Jamal spoke the password and a proboscis poked out through the circle. The young people raised their free hands for the proboscis to explore.
"Too young, Soft Ones," a voice squeaked from the other side of the door.
"Our birthdays are tomorrow," Jamal wheedled. "Mine is in two hours and Brinna's is in seven."
"Is close," the voice admitted. The proboscis withdrew and the peephole clacked shut.
They stood in the growing chill.
The peephole snapped open again.
"No until tomorrow."
"But you don't understand! Our families cast us out for declaring our heartbond before time. We have nowhere to go!"
Clack!
A flake of white fell, then twenty, then icy wetness descended in a million relentless kisses. Jamal pounded on the door. "A blizzard is coming! It's snowing! It's just a few hours! Please!"
Brinna pulled her cloak more tightly around her. "Let's ask for shelter somewhere else. Surely, somebody will take us in."
But the first place would not, nor the second, nor the third. They worked their way down one side of the street and back toward their original destination, growing colder and wetter and more exhausted. Before they heard their last refusal, the bell in the clocktower tolled the hour twice.
"It's your birthday," Brinna said. "Blessings, Beloved! You can go in."
"Not without you."
He wrapped her in his cloak as well as hers. Shivering in his shirtsleeves, he went back around, giving his new age. Always, he was welcomed but his betrothed was not. Always, he refused the welcome, then requested and received a handful of kindling or a stick of wood. He kept himself warm by running these back to the door where Brinna arranged the wood and sheltered it from the snow.
At last, he took his tinderbox and struck a spark that caught and spread.
The peephole flapped open and an eyestalk protruded, then jerked back at the heat of the rising flames. The door swung wide and a bucket of water doused their fire.
An extremely cross grachnid motioned them inside. By the orange coloration, she was a female of the highest caste they'd ever seen.
"Few hours, more or less, what matters?" She motioned for others of lower caste to take Brinna's and Jamal's cloaks. "Welcome to grachnid embassy. Hold hands. Now you married by grachnid law. Congratulations. Stay here until young one is old enough to count with your people. Happy? Follow that one to a warm room. Will be food."
Brinna and Jamal tried to thank her, but the Ambassador only walked away.
Before she closed the sphincter to her office, she said, "Try not burn place down, agreed?"
WRITING PROMPT: For whom would your main character risk a slow, unpleasant death? For whom would your villain risk one?
MA
November 12, 2011
Best Hat EVER! Also, Best Dream
So a friend of a friend crochets while she does phone work, and she made the exoskeleton of a stuffed turtle. Without the stuffing, it looked like a hat, and my friend said, "I know a woman who would love that hat!" And the crochet lady said, "It isn't a hat, but I could make a hat like that." So she did. And she gave it to my friend, who gave it to me.
Here he is, modeling the hat.
And here I am.
I think he looks better in it than I do.
Now, the dream:
I dreamed I was a young girl (maybe 16 or 17), out on a first real date. The boy did and said inappropriate things, and I was all mixed up, thinking about things my mother had advised me, how I would appear if I objected, how he would react. But I finally said I wanted to go home, because he was being inappropriate. At the same time, I was grateful that we had both honestly displayed who we were right from the first, and not tried to impress each other, then been disappointed when we found out the truth.
Now for the best part. I was SO ready to go home, but he got in the back seat and was rummaging around, just controlling the situation by stalling on doing what I asked. Have you ever had one of those, "I am not in control of my life" dreams? Well, this is the beauty part: I started the car and drove it home–from the passenger seat! He was like, "How are you driving the car?!?" And I was like, "I just am." And, when I got home, the cops were there to arrest his ass for something.
Best. Dream. Ever.
WRITING PROMPT: A character takes control of a situation against the odds.
MA
November 11, 2011
Friday Recommends and Mah Moveh!
If I haven't recommended The Social Networking Academy yet, I have been seriously remiss. Jo Barnes shares fantastic free information. This week, she turned me on to Animoto, where you can make a 30-second slide show for FREE, and they supply the styling and the music. So I made this:
Is that cool beans, or what? Them beans is dang near froze, that's what!
Long-time readers know that I am all kindsa fangirl about Merrill Markoe. Not in a creepy, freakish stalker kind of way, of course. I don't have a secret closet shrine to her or anything DON'T OPEN THAT DOOR! You can't open that door, anyway, because it's locked. Because there's absolutely nothing in it. It's an empty closet. You don't need to see what's in there, because it's totally. Empty.
Anyway, I recommend you go explore and enjoy her YouTube channel. Do not be drinking coffee or another beverage while you watch, unless you just want a new keyboard.
Also, she has a new book out, COOL, CALM AND CONTENTIOUS.
The other day, I announced that I had a new story out in Alliteration Ink's SPEC THE HALLS, a winter-holiday eBook anthology. It costs $9.99, which is more than I usually pay for an eBook, but all the proceeds go to Heifer International, which is one of my passions. For more about the anthology in general, click on the SPEC THE HALLS link above. For more on my story in particular, click here.
WRITING PROMPT: Who is your main character's favorite writer/musician/artist/bard/flagelhooter? Why?
MA
