Julia Rachel Barrett's Blog, page 117

Short, sweet reads you probably haven't heard of.

A Wish in Time, by Laurel Bradley -  A short novella of time-travel romance.  Lovely.

The Poet of Loch Ness, by Brian J. Corrigan -  Two men who care deeply for the same woman.  Poignant.

Mariette in Ecstasy, by Ron Hansen – An unusual work of fiction about the sensual nature of spirituality and religion.

Birth of the Chess Queen, A History, by Marilyn Yalom – Interesting if you enjoy reading about the history of women and power.

Warprize, Warsworn and Warlord (The Chronicles of the Warlands), by Elizabeth Vaughn – A romantic fantasy at it's best.  I didn't want this series to end.

The Charm Stone, by Donna Kauffman – A fun, silly, light-hearted contemporary romance.  The perfect pool-side read.

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A Photo Essay.

Here are some pics of one of the wilderness parks where Jake and I walk.  This is the more open park.  He gets to run through open meadows now that the fox tails have calmed down.  So now you know one of the reasons we do it.  This weekend I'll take pictures at our other favorite park.

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An Awesome Guest Commentary from Vicky's Husband, Don!

Vicky is one of my readers.  Her comment on my awesome post was just awesome!

Her husband, Don, offered some excellent additions to my hubby's suggestions.  What would a romance hero, an Alpha Male and former Marine say upon seeing a woman with a nice asstribute:

Don says that my hubby and I covered things pretty well, but we missed a few good ones!
Down in Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains…Don has heard guys say:

"I'd like to ride that"

"I'd hit that!"
The good old fashion whistle!  (Don, you are so right!)

And of course there is the head shake and the "Daammmn!" (You get the idea.)

And then Vicky's hubby nailed what  the Alpha male Marine would have said here:  "HooYaa!"
THAT i [image error] s what should have been there! But ONLY a Marine, NOT Army or Navy!

Well, Don, I hear you!  I like that, Hoo Yaa!  Works for me!  OMG – I must write a story and include the Hoo Yaa!

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Prolific versus Popular

I'd like to be both…well, maybe popular as far as my books are concerned.  When an author writes books she wants nothing more than to have them read.  Every single time someone reads one of my books, I feel a simultaneous/serendipitous thrill.  I've had a surprising number of work published this past year and I'm not quite sure how I did it and I don't know if I can do it again.  But…I do have a number of on-going projects so we shall see.  Some of my author friends put out a book a month.  I have no idea how they manage.

***In the meantime – I have 17 unconfirmed email addresses on my newsletter list.  I'm so glad you want to hear from me!  Once you sign up for the newsletter, you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you want to subscribe.  You must confirm or your email address is automatically deleted.  If you have subscribed and have not received a confirmation letter, please email me at Julia@JuliaRachelBarrett.net and I'll try to get you signed up.***

Oh, the High Priest Imhotep, Arnold Vosloo, from the movie The Mummy (Brendan Fraser), was on NCIS last night.  I just love seeing totally cool actors in cameo roles, and NCIS is must see TV for me, as is The Walking Dead.  Talk about edge of seat TV viewing!

Okay, maybe tomorrow I'll have more interesting things to talk about.

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In the words of an Alpha Male…nice ass!

[image error]Okay, so I'm reading this book…first chapter, and I'm thinking – not bad, I could maybe get into this, has potential.  Starts off a little slow, but…OhMyGod…he did not just say that!  The big, strong, handsome, tall (6'4″), thirty-something, former marine, Alpha Male, upon meeting a woman, just uttered a word that would never cross an Alpha Male's lips.  He said to his companion, oh, I can't repeat it.  Cringe.  Deep breath.  He said, Awesome butt.  No Alpha Male in the history of Alpha Males has ever used the word Awesome to describe a woman's ass.

He uses that word again in chapter two to describe a tree.  The adjective flung me right out of the story.  He might as well have uttered my most hated phrase…love juices – which sends me running for the hills every single time.

Awesome??? My son and his friends sometimes describe a video game as awesome.  One of my daughters called the 3-D special effects in the movie Avatar awesome.  To an Alpha Male, the word awesome does not exist.  It's not in his vocabulary.

How does an Alpha Male describe a potential love-interest's backside?  Let me think…(and I consulted with the consummate Alpha Male – hubby – on this one), he says:

"Nice ass."

"Nice butt."

"Hot little ass."

"I'd like to get my hands on that sweet ass of hers."

"That's an ass I can get behind."

"Damn, she has a sweet ass." Or, "Damn, she fills out those jeans."

"She has a smokin' ass."

I don't mean to be crass, but he might say…"I'd like to fuck that." Or in polite terminology…"I'd like to get with that."

Or according to hubby, the Alpha Male might just shake his head in appreciation.

Of course my husband never says these things out loud, he just thinks them, because he knows which side his bed is buttered on.

I'm going to press on with the book, but if I read awesome one more time…

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Happy Endings, with Rebecca of Dirty Sexy Books (no commas)

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Happily Ever Afters

(Julia) Typically, literary fiction does not require a happily ever after. For that matter, there is no requirement that literary fiction have a definite ending, period.  On the other hand, when it comes to genre fiction, romance in particular, a happily ever after or a happy for now is de rigueur.  It's not only readers who demand a happy ending, publishers of romance require it.  Is it necessary for the author of a romance novel to wrap up a story in pretty paper and tie it with a neat little bow?  Is this always what readers want?  Is there an audience for a romantic story with an ambiguous ending?

(Rebecca) This is a bit of a chicken and egg question, because most readers would say that it cannot be called a romance unless it has a happily-ever-after ending, however I think we romance fans are softening on this hard stance.  I think a lot of fans are after "slow simmer" romances that evolve over several installments, and I hope this trend continues, but it does mean that authors need some freedom to end books on break-ups, fuck-ups, and all manner of grand miscommunications.

(Julia) Urban fantasy is an example of a sub-genre that often crosses over into the romance, yet it allows for some ambiguity in the same way literary fiction does.  Why?  In the end, when a series is spent, must every urban fantasy meet it's happily ever after as well?

(Rebecca)  By taking cover under the popularity of urban fantasy, I think some romance writers have found the freedom they need to craft their stories without committing to a hard and fast happily-ever-after ending on every single book.

Two successful examples of "slow simmer" romances come to mind: Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series and Nalini Singh's Guild Hunters series.  In both series the first installment has everything a die-hard romance fan could ask for, but both books end with the couple separated somehow (sorry, I'm trying not to be spoilerish!).  To see the couple reunited, we had to wait for book two, and I don't know about you, but I had to read the second installment in these series ASAP.

To answer your last question above, yes, I think most fans expect urban fantasy series to end on a high note, even if every book in between is filled with doom and gloom.  If you want to piss off your fan-base, take them on a roller coaster ride, and then drop the couple off a cliff at the end.  No one will be pleased.

(Julia) So, in other words, a series provides an author a little more freedom to create conflict, in a sense, delay gratification for her characters, yet the audience can still anticipate a satisfying resolution for the main parties involved?  This usually means a cliffhanger.  I've heard many readers complain about cliffhangers, especially when they have to wait a year or longer for the next installment.  So the obvious question is, how do you feel about cliffhangers?

(Rebecca) I think some authors go overboard with cliffhangers and that's where the disgruntled fans come in.  I recall having a bad reaction to the ending in Glass Houses by Rachel Caine.  It's the first book in her Morganville Vampires series, and it literally ends in the middle of a pivotal moment.  I can quote the last sentence without being spoilerish (I think), and you tell me if you'd like to see a book end right here: "They all screamed as the knife came down."

That's the last sentence!  I have to buy the next book to find out what happens, and I never did because it left such a bad taste in my mouth.  I felt like the author was toying with me, and not in a good way.

So no, that's not my preferred kind of cliffhanger, but that's not to say they're all bad.  I think the best writers close books in the lull before the storm.  There needs to be some sense of closure and peace at the end of each book, but there also needs to be a premonition that trouble is brewing on the horizon.  It's a tricky thing to pull off.  Think Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back.  Luke just got his butt kicked by his *gasp* father, and he's on the medical ship being fitted for a fake hand.  The final shot of that film is like a breather between what has happened, and what will come.  It's the perfect balance between closure and anticipation.

(Julia) I like that concept…a moment of peace in between story installments, or story arcs, sort of a brief intermission. Two things leave a bad taste in my mouth as well – a story that ends in the middle of the action or the climax, forcing me to wait for the author to pick up the action according to the publisher's or the author's timetable, or remaining loyal to a series for the long haul, only to have the characters come to a tragic end, or perhaps worse…run out of steam.

Thanks so much for being my guest, Rebecca!

(Rebecca) It was a pleasure Julia.  Thanks for inviting me to stand on your soap box.

You can read more of Rebecca's opinions, reviews and thoughts on her site, Dirty Sexy Books:  http://dirtysexybooks.com/

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Possibly the most brilliant words ever uttered about 'genre' fiction – IMO!

From a discussion between two of my favorite authors, Margaret Atwood and Ursula K. Le Guin.  You can find some of their works listed on my page of books to read.

"Perhaps because of this disagreement, the two writers crept around the issue of science fiction all evening (Le Guin: "it's just so complicated!"), preferring rather to discuss the motivations and morality of fiction-writing, until an audience member made a comment about their works falling between "literary fiction" and "science fiction." Le Guin immediately took exception to this confluence of "literary" with "realistic," arguing that realism is a genre like any other, and that all writing is by definition literary, except that some is better than others. It's Le Guin's belief — and Atwood seemed to be in cahoots — that realism is limited in terms of what it can actually discuss. The modern realistic novel, she lamented, has devolved into tales of well-off East Coast people with problems, and this form of novel can't "bear witness" to anything but that particular condition. Both women were fierce in their conviction, however, that speculative and not-quite-real fictions have more freedom to tackle sweeping subjects unavailable to the realist."

My feelings exactly.

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Arkansas Black Apple

[image error]My new favorite apple.  I found some last year, thought they were an aberration, but they're back!  I gathered this info from some foodie site:

"Possibly raised by a settler called John Crawford in Arkansas, USA in the 1840s, and widely grown in Arkansas and Missouri later that century.  It is thought to be a seedling of Winesap.  This apple is notable for the extremely dark coloration, which becomes almost black after storage."

All I can say is that the Arkansas black apple is super crisp and tart/sweet.  The best way for an apple to be.

You know, everyone thinks Eve tempted Adam with an apple, but it was really a quince, possibly a pomegranate.  Can you imagine being tempted by a quince?  A quince is the queen of tart fruits, like suck in your cheeks, pucker, tart.  I use them to make outstanding jam, but I have a hard time imagining Adam saying – yeah, sure, give me a bite of that.  Now a pomegranate makes sense…in the Mediterranean, it is considered the fruit of love.

Okay, I'm blabbing.  Monday, Rebecca from Dirty Sexy Books (no commas) will be here to discuss happy endings.

In the meantime, please confirm that you have signed up for my newsletter or your email is automatically dumped.  I can't access it.  Sorry!

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Getting serious for a sec.

A must read from Marie Claire:  http://www.marieclaire.com/health-fitness/news/articles/health-blogger-controversy

As a former anorexic – think Portia de Rossi – I am 5'6″ and at one time I weighed 86 pounds and I exercised to excess.  Don't emulate the 'big six'.  Extremism, whether in diet or exercise or religion or politics is not good for your health.  Yeah, in our secret hearts none of us measures up.  Ignore the sneaky messages your secret heart sends to your brain and do your best to be healthy.  Why does this stuff scare me?  Why does it piss me off?  Because I have two daughters, that's why.  I don't want them influenced by this crap.

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