Frances Pauli's Blog, page 15
August 10, 2012
Space Opera Review
Pursued by the Targon Crime Syndicate bent on revenge, the Patrol intent on recruitment, and the Sessimoniss who want their god back, the last thing Captain Dace needs is a handsome copilot with romance on his mind.
Well it's a rare surprise when I find a book that keeps me completely riveted. It's an even bigger treat when it happens twice. Major bonus points if all this goes down in Space Opera fashion. Thankfully, I have Jaleta Clegg and her series of fun, fast-paced, space romps featuring the humble trouble magnet and cargo pilot, Dace.
You'll remember the first Dace book, Nexus Point, held me so enthralled that I risked my Sony e-reader by taking it along for bath time. (Turns out the very brave can take an e-reader in the tub.) Well, book two doesn't disappoint, and our fair author has thrown in a heaping of all the things I find delicious in a story.
Priestess of the Eggstone introduces some engaging new characters and delivers all the action and adventure of Nexus Point along with: a mysterious alien culture, a powerful, gemmy relic, some serious flirtation, and, my favorite, big reptiles! It's a fun read, a good time, and a worthy installment in the epic adventures of Dace.
I highly recommend this series, and I can't wait for the next one!
RELEASING TODAY
It isn’t Dace’s fault she leaves chaos everywhere she goes.She didn’t know Belliff, the company who hired her to courier sensitive materials, is a front for the Targon Crime Syndicate. She finds out when she steps into the middle of a Patrol raid on Belliff’s offices. The Patrol and Targon both want her. But that’s nothing. Her copilot has an entire sentient species chasing him for stealing their god. The two of them set off on a desperate chase to get the Eggstone god back to avert war with the Sessimoniss while evading the Patrol and the Targon Syndicate.But the Eggstone isn’t just any rock. The Patrol isn’t chasing her for the reasons she thinks. And Targon’s days are numbered.
From the Publisher: http://journal-store.com/bookstore/priestess-of-the-eggstone/And on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Priestess-Eggstone-Jaleta-Clegg/dp/1936564475/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344570188&sr=8-1&keywords=priestess+of+the+eggstone
Kindle Version: http://www.amazon.com/Priestess-Eggstone-Altairan-Empire-ebook/dp/B008V5ERF0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344570188&sr=8-2&keywords=priestess+of+the+eggstone
Jaleta Clegg loves to play with words, twisting them into stories. She writes science fiction adventure novels, silly horror short stories, and dabbles in just about every other genre. Her day job involves lots of schoolchildren, an inflatable planetarium, and starship simulators. Find more at www.jaletac.com
Well it's a rare surprise when I find a book that keeps me completely riveted. It's an even bigger treat when it happens twice. Major bonus points if all this goes down in Space Opera fashion. Thankfully, I have Jaleta Clegg and her series of fun, fast-paced, space romps featuring the humble trouble magnet and cargo pilot, Dace.
You'll remember the first Dace book, Nexus Point, held me so enthralled that I risked my Sony e-reader by taking it along for bath time. (Turns out the very brave can take an e-reader in the tub.) Well, book two doesn't disappoint, and our fair author has thrown in a heaping of all the things I find delicious in a story.
Priestess of the Eggstone introduces some engaging new characters and delivers all the action and adventure of Nexus Point along with: a mysterious alien culture, a powerful, gemmy relic, some serious flirtation, and, my favorite, big reptiles! It's a fun read, a good time, and a worthy installment in the epic adventures of Dace.
I highly recommend this series, and I can't wait for the next one!
RELEASING TODAY
It isn’t Dace’s fault she leaves chaos everywhere she goes.She didn’t know Belliff, the company who hired her to courier sensitive materials, is a front for the Targon Crime Syndicate. She finds out when she steps into the middle of a Patrol raid on Belliff’s offices. The Patrol and Targon both want her. But that’s nothing. Her copilot has an entire sentient species chasing him for stealing their god. The two of them set off on a desperate chase to get the Eggstone god back to avert war with the Sessimoniss while evading the Patrol and the Targon Syndicate.But the Eggstone isn’t just any rock. The Patrol isn’t chasing her for the reasons she thinks. And Targon’s days are numbered.
From the Publisher: http://journal-store.com/bookstore/priestess-of-the-eggstone/And on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Priestess-Eggstone-Jaleta-Clegg/dp/1936564475/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344570188&sr=8-1&keywords=priestess+of+the+eggstone
Kindle Version: http://www.amazon.com/Priestess-Eggstone-Altairan-Empire-ebook/dp/B008V5ERF0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344570188&sr=8-2&keywords=priestess+of+the+eggstone
Jaleta Clegg loves to play with words, twisting them into stories. She writes science fiction adventure novels, silly horror short stories, and dabbles in just about every other genre. Her day job involves lots of schoolchildren, an inflatable planetarium, and starship simulators. Find more at www.jaletac.com
August 6, 2012
Barsoooom!
I stayed up late last night watching the Curiosity rover landing feed on nasa.com. I sniffled a little when touchdown was confirmed, when those glorious science guys (and gals) got all teary and started shouting and handing out hugs.
I shivered and gave a little "squee."
Mars, baby.
Because I'm a huge scifi nut on top of being a wannabe space geek, I had to resist (okay, I didn't resist) the overwhelming urge to shout, "Barsooom!" In my dining room at 10:38pm. The rest of the family, in particular my husband who is required to wake up at 3am didn't appreciate my reference, let me tell ya.
Still, I'm excited about Curiosity because, not only is she looking for signs of water and life, she's measuring Martian radiation levels in preparation for sending people to mars. SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS is a big deal for me. I wish we'd done it ages ago, and I'm certainly glad they're finally, "getting on that."
Or at least thinking about it.
Anyway, if you too are interested in SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS, I have some cool links to check out.
First, go here and watch all the Curiosity hoopla: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/mars/curiosity_news3.html
If you wonder, hmm. why should we send people to mars, go here: http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Mars-Guidebook-Surviving/dp/0307407187
for the funniest, most awesome, delicious read about the possibilities of living on Mars.
It was written by a genius who heads up the Mars Society http://www.marssociety.org/home
and they are worth an explore too.
Every time I go to the site, read the book or look at the pictures, I can't help but hear Arnold's voice in my head, "Get your ass to Mars!"
Everyone know that reference? It's recently had a remake, yes?
Give a guess in the comments,
~Frances
I shivered and gave a little "squee."
Mars, baby.
Because I'm a huge scifi nut on top of being a wannabe space geek, I had to resist (okay, I didn't resist) the overwhelming urge to shout, "Barsooom!" In my dining room at 10:38pm. The rest of the family, in particular my husband who is required to wake up at 3am didn't appreciate my reference, let me tell ya.
Still, I'm excited about Curiosity because, not only is she looking for signs of water and life, she's measuring Martian radiation levels in preparation for sending people to mars. SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS is a big deal for me. I wish we'd done it ages ago, and I'm certainly glad they're finally, "getting on that."
Or at least thinking about it.
Anyway, if you too are interested in SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS, I have some cool links to check out.
First, go here and watch all the Curiosity hoopla: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/mars/curiosity_news3.html
If you wonder, hmm. why should we send people to mars, go here: http://www.amazon.com/How-Live-Mars-Guidebook-Surviving/dp/0307407187
for the funniest, most awesome, delicious read about the possibilities of living on Mars.
It was written by a genius who heads up the Mars Society http://www.marssociety.org/home
and they are worth an explore too.
Every time I go to the site, read the book or look at the pictures, I can't help but hear Arnold's voice in my head, "Get your ass to Mars!"
Everyone know that reference? It's recently had a remake, yes?
Give a guess in the comments,
~Frances
July 29, 2012
From the Trenches
"Desde la trinchera, you te escribo..."
That's the first line of one of my favorite songs by an eighties pop group, Flans. Yes, it's in Spanish. When I discovered the group, my Spanish was passable at best. Still, this particular song is so haunting and lovely. I mean the gal is singing her heart out, and I always loved it.
It means: I write to you from the trenches.
I got that it was about war, even back then. The guy is telling his girl back home to "olvida me" (forget me") and it's all very tragic and heartbreaking. But I loved it so much.
Flash forward mmmmbm mfm years or so and I'm writing a World War One/past life/romance/suspense paranormal. (Yes, I can have that many genres! I can!) The point is, I'm up to my eyeballs in trench warfare.
See how it all fits together? Wanna see if I can work Star Trek in here too? :)
I'll get to it. Suffice it to say that I was thinking a lot about situations where death was immanent. The thing about the trench warfare that really struck me was how close these soldiers were to the enemy. Imagine it, you're stuck in a ditch and people are dying and you can't go anywhere and you can hear the enemy singing and moving around. You know that you could die at any second. You are constantly reminded of that fact.
So I tried to imagine how they tolerated it. Understand that I'm a person who never, ever, had any interest in warfare. I cringed when my Dad put on war movies, I suffered through hours and hours of documentaries about World War Two and Vietnam, not because I don't appreciate history, but because for a teenage girl, the subject just really isn't that fascinating.
Now I'm obsessed with it, I'm writing it, and I'm still only starting to understand. In particular because my father had experienced more about war than we really grasped as children. He'd experienced enough that he didn't want to talk about it. I don't think anyone who hasn't lived during war can really grasp it...not fully.
But my out, from a fictional standpoint, presented itself through my genre/subject matter. I was dealing with past lives, you see. My protagonist was having flash backs. She was coming to terms with the idea of reincarnation by experiencing things very vividly from a previous life. For her, it became (at that great turning point moment) not just a matter of faith but one of knowledge. Once she'd assimilated that death was not remotely permanent, it took away the thing's power.
I deal with this a bit in my Changeling Race trilogy too, but on a less physical level. Marcus is telling Liz about the bad things he's discovered in himself, which she relates to Jung's concept of The Shadow. She tells him, (I believe quite accurately) that our shadow has no power if we look at it head on. It's the denial that makes it deadly. The thing sneaking up on you that can take the wind out of your sails.
So back to the current work in progress. I have a heroine whose life is threatened, and she suddenly realizes that if she dies, so what? She'll come back, and she knows it. Now death is still inconvenient, and scary, but what that knowledge does for the character's transformation is really what the story is about.
I was so proud of it too. Then I pulled out my Quotable Star Trek...I warned you this was coming...and found out that my brilliant idea wasn't nearly as original or mind-blowing as I suspected. :)
There on page 174, in the chapter on Peace and War, I found the following quote:
"When you cease to fear death, the rules of war change."
Damn it. "From the trenches, I write to you..." Star Trek stole my idea...er, um. Okay, maybe not exactly.
But there is nothing new under the sun, so they say.
Oh, also, I have a newsletter now. If you want to know when books are releasing or get cover sneak peeks or whatever else I come up with to announce, sign up in the side-bar. No spam. I promise. If anything, I'll probably have trouble remembering to use it. :)
"Olivida," forgetful, me.
~ Frances
That's the first line of one of my favorite songs by an eighties pop group, Flans. Yes, it's in Spanish. When I discovered the group, my Spanish was passable at best. Still, this particular song is so haunting and lovely. I mean the gal is singing her heart out, and I always loved it.
It means: I write to you from the trenches.
I got that it was about war, even back then. The guy is telling his girl back home to "olvida me" (forget me") and it's all very tragic and heartbreaking. But I loved it so much.
Flash forward mmmmbm mfm years or so and I'm writing a World War One/past life/romance/suspense paranormal. (Yes, I can have that many genres! I can!) The point is, I'm up to my eyeballs in trench warfare.
See how it all fits together? Wanna see if I can work Star Trek in here too? :)
I'll get to it. Suffice it to say that I was thinking a lot about situations where death was immanent. The thing about the trench warfare that really struck me was how close these soldiers were to the enemy. Imagine it, you're stuck in a ditch and people are dying and you can't go anywhere and you can hear the enemy singing and moving around. You know that you could die at any second. You are constantly reminded of that fact.
So I tried to imagine how they tolerated it. Understand that I'm a person who never, ever, had any interest in warfare. I cringed when my Dad put on war movies, I suffered through hours and hours of documentaries about World War Two and Vietnam, not because I don't appreciate history, but because for a teenage girl, the subject just really isn't that fascinating.
Now I'm obsessed with it, I'm writing it, and I'm still only starting to understand. In particular because my father had experienced more about war than we really grasped as children. He'd experienced enough that he didn't want to talk about it. I don't think anyone who hasn't lived during war can really grasp it...not fully.
But my out, from a fictional standpoint, presented itself through my genre/subject matter. I was dealing with past lives, you see. My protagonist was having flash backs. She was coming to terms with the idea of reincarnation by experiencing things very vividly from a previous life. For her, it became (at that great turning point moment) not just a matter of faith but one of knowledge. Once she'd assimilated that death was not remotely permanent, it took away the thing's power.
I deal with this a bit in my Changeling Race trilogy too, but on a less physical level. Marcus is telling Liz about the bad things he's discovered in himself, which she relates to Jung's concept of The Shadow. She tells him, (I believe quite accurately) that our shadow has no power if we look at it head on. It's the denial that makes it deadly. The thing sneaking up on you that can take the wind out of your sails.
So back to the current work in progress. I have a heroine whose life is threatened, and she suddenly realizes that if she dies, so what? She'll come back, and she knows it. Now death is still inconvenient, and scary, but what that knowledge does for the character's transformation is really what the story is about.
I was so proud of it too. Then I pulled out my Quotable Star Trek...I warned you this was coming...and found out that my brilliant idea wasn't nearly as original or mind-blowing as I suspected. :)
There on page 174, in the chapter on Peace and War, I found the following quote:
"When you cease to fear death, the rules of war change."
Damn it. "From the trenches, I write to you..." Star Trek stole my idea...er, um. Okay, maybe not exactly.
But there is nothing new under the sun, so they say.
Oh, also, I have a newsletter now. If you want to know when books are releasing or get cover sneak peeks or whatever else I come up with to announce, sign up in the side-bar. No spam. I promise. If anything, I'll probably have trouble remembering to use it. :)
"Olivida," forgetful, me.
~ Frances
July 23, 2012
Q is for Quotable
I had the fortune of receiving a magnificent gift this week. It's been rather a rotten week, so the gift was a welcome bright spot. Also, I adore it and, even better, I think it's going to be a great tool for blogging!
My unexpected present was a shiny, soft bound copy of Quotable Star Trek.
Don't laugh at me. I really love this thing. I am, after all, a serious Trekkie at heart, and the book, the magnificent book is full of nothing but wonderful, insightful, gleeful quotes from my favorite of franchises. Now when I say full, I mean 352 pages packed with nothing but. That's full.
I adore it.
Even worse, I fully intend to torture the rest of the world with it. So much fun to be had there. You'll see. I'll start with one that is near and dear to my heart. It's from my favorite ST incarnation, Deep Space Nine, and even involves Dax, whom I someday aspire to grow up to be. (when I'm drunk and highly delusional)
Here goes: "There is something attractive about a lost cause."
Oh! How I love that quote. I am a fully seated champion of the underdog. If its an against all odds battle, I'm in. The lost cause, attractive? YES. In particular in fiction this rings true. Why? Because real life feels overwhelming at times, we feel like a lost cause at times, and following that humble beginning to a happy ending is blissfully fulfilling.
When a heroic character wins the day, we cheer, yes. But we also sigh a little. Maybe, we even snark a bit. Give me an underdog, however, and let him triumph, NOW we're talking.
Chicken little hits a home run, the ugly duckling gets the prince, the rag tag band fends off the entire orcish army. :) Come on, you have more in mind, right?
Let's hear your favorite lost causes, folks.
Live long and prosper,
~ Frances
My unexpected present was a shiny, soft bound copy of Quotable Star Trek.
Don't laugh at me. I really love this thing. I am, after all, a serious Trekkie at heart, and the book, the magnificent book is full of nothing but wonderful, insightful, gleeful quotes from my favorite of franchises. Now when I say full, I mean 352 pages packed with nothing but. That's full.
I adore it.
Even worse, I fully intend to torture the rest of the world with it. So much fun to be had there. You'll see. I'll start with one that is near and dear to my heart. It's from my favorite ST incarnation, Deep Space Nine, and even involves Dax, whom I someday aspire to grow up to be. (when I'm drunk and highly delusional)
Here goes: "There is something attractive about a lost cause."
Oh! How I love that quote. I am a fully seated champion of the underdog. If its an against all odds battle, I'm in. The lost cause, attractive? YES. In particular in fiction this rings true. Why? Because real life feels overwhelming at times, we feel like a lost cause at times, and following that humble beginning to a happy ending is blissfully fulfilling.
When a heroic character wins the day, we cheer, yes. But we also sigh a little. Maybe, we even snark a bit. Give me an underdog, however, and let him triumph, NOW we're talking.
Chicken little hits a home run, the ugly duckling gets the prince, the rag tag band fends off the entire orcish army. :) Come on, you have more in mind, right?
Let's hear your favorite lost causes, folks.
Live long and prosper,
~ Frances
July 16, 2012
Do You Want to Play a Game?
I'm such an eighties girl. sigh. The music, the dancing, the Aqua Net....
Okay, maybe not the Aqua Net. Anyway, aside from a touch of nostalgia, I do have games on my mind today, for several reasons. One, I've ventured into MMO land a teeny tiny bit, and two, I am thinking of play testing my next fantasy universe as an RPG.
I got the idea from the MFRW online Summer Camp. The brilliant coordinators and teachers shared a wealth of information on marketing and other writerly topics, but the one that really struck a cord for me was on role-playing for creating scenes. Great material, and well worth noting, but it got me thinking about other ways to use role-playing as well. A little light bulb flashed and I got very excited. Probably too excited.
You see I've always been a gamer girl. Not in the new way, mind you. Not in the shooting zombies, electronic, system update kind of way. I'm just not that hip, or that young. No, I'm an old fashioned gamer girl, you know, the kind with dice. Yeah, it's kind of geeky.
I'm okay with that.
So, I love role playing games, table top, dice wielding, Doritos eating style. And while I was taking that seminar on scenes I couldn't help but think of how fun it would be to run a campaign in my new universe, Kingdoms Gone. It wouldn't even be that difficult. I could whip out a world book, character classes and the specifics of the magic system. Heck, I'd already done the world building for the books! All I needed was some players, and oddly enough, finding those isn't hard either. Not, when someone else is willing to DM.
Even better, my gamer friends are also writerly sorts. My brain churned with the possibilities. Could I get some fan fic out of this deal? I like to think so. I like to think, that this will work. Either way, I'm going to give it a try. The results will be up in the near future on the Kingdoms Gone blog. I hope to make a useful enough world book that others can employ it for gaming purposes as well. I also hope to have a place for posting fan fics that result. If they result.
Now, all I have to do is stay off the MMO long enough to get it done.
I'm also curious if anyone has tried this either officially or unofficially? Who out there has done a little role playing in their own worlds? I know a lot of folks who have gone the other way--written stories based on games, but has anyone gamed based on their stories? If so, how did that go? I suppose I'll soon find out.
Wish me luck,
~ Frances
Okay, maybe not the Aqua Net. Anyway, aside from a touch of nostalgia, I do have games on my mind today, for several reasons. One, I've ventured into MMO land a teeny tiny bit, and two, I am thinking of play testing my next fantasy universe as an RPG.
I got the idea from the MFRW online Summer Camp. The brilliant coordinators and teachers shared a wealth of information on marketing and other writerly topics, but the one that really struck a cord for me was on role-playing for creating scenes. Great material, and well worth noting, but it got me thinking about other ways to use role-playing as well. A little light bulb flashed and I got very excited. Probably too excited.
You see I've always been a gamer girl. Not in the new way, mind you. Not in the shooting zombies, electronic, system update kind of way. I'm just not that hip, or that young. No, I'm an old fashioned gamer girl, you know, the kind with dice. Yeah, it's kind of geeky.
I'm okay with that.
So, I love role playing games, table top, dice wielding, Doritos eating style. And while I was taking that seminar on scenes I couldn't help but think of how fun it would be to run a campaign in my new universe, Kingdoms Gone. It wouldn't even be that difficult. I could whip out a world book, character classes and the specifics of the magic system. Heck, I'd already done the world building for the books! All I needed was some players, and oddly enough, finding those isn't hard either. Not, when someone else is willing to DM.
Even better, my gamer friends are also writerly sorts. My brain churned with the possibilities. Could I get some fan fic out of this deal? I like to think so. I like to think, that this will work. Either way, I'm going to give it a try. The results will be up in the near future on the Kingdoms Gone blog. I hope to make a useful enough world book that others can employ it for gaming purposes as well. I also hope to have a place for posting fan fics that result. If they result.
Now, all I have to do is stay off the MMO long enough to get it done.
I'm also curious if anyone has tried this either officially or unofficially? Who out there has done a little role playing in their own worlds? I know a lot of folks who have gone the other way--written stories based on games, but has anyone gamed based on their stories? If so, how did that go? I suppose I'll soon find out.
Wish me luck,
~ Frances
July 12, 2012
Optioning
Oh that title gives me goosebumps! Wouldn't it just rock if this post was about a movie deal?
It's not, of course, but a girl can dream. It is about options, however. Not the spine-tingling idea of optioning a film, but the options available to a writer today. Business options. Still exciting, but maybe not in a "pop the cork and lets get to the Champagne part" sort of way.
You see I just got back from Westercon 65 (mini squee) and during my stint on panels and subsequent conversations, the one theme that kept rattling through my brain was: options. As in: Damn, there sure are a lot of them now.
I tend to gravitate toward the business panels. Partly because I absolutely love talking about the new world that publishing is becoming, and partly because I feel less out of my league there. Craft and genre panels rule, but I often tend to feel intimidated by some of the other panelists' experience and readership (which usually trumps mine in spades). I still sneak into a few. Sure. But the business panels are where I feel like I can really roll up my sleeves and hold my own.
In particular because even the big league authors are pretty confused in that arena. :)
So there I was on panel after panel about ebooks, small presses, the digital rev-O-lution, and feeling pretty good about it. I even managed to sound somewhat savvy once or twice, and once, just once, blew the room completely away when I showed off the insanely brilliant (thanks to the ROMANCE community, I'll have you know) ebook trading cards.
Come on, folks. The SFF community is the PRIME audience for anything trading card related. So surprised they didn't go there first.
But I digress...a little. The point is, and the obvious point I may add, that there are infinite options available for the author today. Good, solid options, not the hokey, vanity, scam-in-a-can options. I don't see any reason why we even have to pick just one. Not just one way to publish, not just one way to write, not just one way to market, distribute, design, you name it.
We can do what the f@#K we want, you see. And sometimes, it will even work.
So my advise as always, the same advise I gave on the panels, is educate yourself on ALL of them. That's right. Don't just pick one cookie, check them all out. I mean, they're cookies people. Make sure you're not allergic, make sure there's no poison (or not TOO much) and then dive on in!
viva, viva!
Frances
It's not, of course, but a girl can dream. It is about options, however. Not the spine-tingling idea of optioning a film, but the options available to a writer today. Business options. Still exciting, but maybe not in a "pop the cork and lets get to the Champagne part" sort of way.
You see I just got back from Westercon 65 (mini squee) and during my stint on panels and subsequent conversations, the one theme that kept rattling through my brain was: options. As in: Damn, there sure are a lot of them now.
I tend to gravitate toward the business panels. Partly because I absolutely love talking about the new world that publishing is becoming, and partly because I feel less out of my league there. Craft and genre panels rule, but I often tend to feel intimidated by some of the other panelists' experience and readership (which usually trumps mine in spades). I still sneak into a few. Sure. But the business panels are where I feel like I can really roll up my sleeves and hold my own.
In particular because even the big league authors are pretty confused in that arena. :)
So there I was on panel after panel about ebooks, small presses, the digital rev-O-lution, and feeling pretty good about it. I even managed to sound somewhat savvy once or twice, and once, just once, blew the room completely away when I showed off the insanely brilliant (thanks to the ROMANCE community, I'll have you know) ebook trading cards.
Come on, folks. The SFF community is the PRIME audience for anything trading card related. So surprised they didn't go there first.
But I digress...a little. The point is, and the obvious point I may add, that there are infinite options available for the author today. Good, solid options, not the hokey, vanity, scam-in-a-can options. I don't see any reason why we even have to pick just one. Not just one way to publish, not just one way to write, not just one way to market, distribute, design, you name it.
We can do what the f@#K we want, you see. And sometimes, it will even work.
So my advise as always, the same advise I gave on the panels, is educate yourself on ALL of them. That's right. Don't just pick one cookie, check them all out. I mean, they're cookies people. Make sure you're not allergic, make sure there's no poison (or not TOO much) and then dive on in!
viva, viva!
Frances
July 9, 2012
Nicecon 2012
Just back from a solid four days of fun at Westercon, and I am shredded. Tired, sore, still grinning.
My post convention reports are usually complimentary for the most part, but in the past I have gone through item by item weighing out the positives and the negatives, the fun and the drudge, the nice and the not-so-nice. I try to keep my eyes and my mind open and to balance playful and informative.
This time, I'm totally stumped. I can't think of one minus to list. There just isn't one. Even our ten minute treks to and from the farthest hotel room possible from the center of action were a blast. Seriously. We debated
the possibility that the command staff might be piping in happy juice through the air conditioners. Something was up, though I still doubt the drugging theory, because the prevailing theme at Westercon this year seemed to be "nice."
I've never encountered so much niceness crammed into one small space. It brings to mind a line from my favorite spoof-viking movie, when the king of High Brazil announces the secret method for keeping their island from slipping into the sea forever. "We're all terribly nice to one another."
It works, mate. And you know what? It's not bad advice all around.
A huge thanks from me to the staff, volunteers, coordinators, pros, neo-pros ;) fans, guests, and random strangers that made this con my all time favorite. (Okay, I always say that, but really. This time, really.)
Be excellent to one another, and party on dude!
~Frances
My post convention reports are usually complimentary for the most part, but in the past I have gone through item by item weighing out the positives and the negatives, the fun and the drudge, the nice and the not-so-nice. I try to keep my eyes and my mind open and to balance playful and informative.
This time, I'm totally stumped. I can't think of one minus to list. There just isn't one. Even our ten minute treks to and from the farthest hotel room possible from the center of action were a blast. Seriously. We debated
the possibility that the command staff might be piping in happy juice through the air conditioners. Something was up, though I still doubt the drugging theory, because the prevailing theme at Westercon this year seemed to be "nice."
I've never encountered so much niceness crammed into one small space. It brings to mind a line from my favorite spoof-viking movie, when the king of High Brazil announces the secret method for keeping their island from slipping into the sea forever. "We're all terribly nice to one another."
It works, mate. And you know what? It's not bad advice all around.
A huge thanks from me to the staff, volunteers, coordinators, pros, neo-pros ;) fans, guests, and random strangers that made this con my all time favorite. (Okay, I always say that, but really. This time, really.)
Be excellent to one another, and party on dude!
~Frances
July 1, 2012
Fireworks for a Blog Hop
The folks at the Blog Hop Spot are doing it again, this time in celebration of Independence Day.I usually spend this time of year watching out the windows for fires, part of the dangers of desert community living. While I'm pacing and watching the horizon, let us know how you spend your holiday. (Hopefully in less of a state of panic than I do!) One comment will earn a free ebook from my backlist. And dont forget to follow the link and join the hop!http://thebloghopspot.com/event-page/
June 29, 2012
June 21, 2012
Midsummer Madness, SFR style
I almost missed Midsummer this year. Not an easy feat for someone who used to host an annual Midsummer Night's Fairy Revel. This year, however, the dates blurred. School is out at last, and let me tell you, for a homeschooling Mom that is more reason to celebrate even than it is for the children. I started my revel early this year. I reveled in the extra time to write, to clean, to play ridiculous internet games that do absolutely nothing to further my housecleaning or word count goals.
It's good to play from time to time.
With that in mind, I invite you all to another sort of revel. The details are below, and in addition to the fun and prizes to be had on the hop, one commenter here will be drawn for a free ebook of their choice as well.
Thanks to everyone involved, and thank heavens for summer!
Hello there! On Friday 22nd June (Pacific Time) the SFR Brigade will be holding its first ever Blog Hop to celebrate Midsummer. 36 fabulous science fiction romance authors will be telling you mystical or scientific stories related to the event, and they'll each be giving away a prize - books, gift cards, swag bags...and lots more! Plus there's TWO GRAND PRIZES! 1st Prize - a Kindle Touch or Nook Touch 2nd Prize -a library of science fiction romance titles from over 20 authors (these will be mostly ebooks with one print anthology), and an Anabanana Gift Card. All you need to do to enter is pop along to the blogs listed below and comment on as many as you want (only ONE comment per site will count as an entry). Each time you comment at a stop, you'll earn one entry into the grand prize - so the more sites you visit, the greater your chances of winning. The winners will be drawn at random on the 24th June and announced on this site. The list of participating authors can be found below this post. Spread the news!
It's good to play from time to time.
With that in mind, I invite you all to another sort of revel. The details are below, and in addition to the fun and prizes to be had on the hop, one commenter here will be drawn for a free ebook of their choice as well.
Thanks to everyone involved, and thank heavens for summer!
Hello there! On Friday 22nd June (Pacific Time) the SFR Brigade will be holding its first ever Blog Hop to celebrate Midsummer. 36 fabulous science fiction romance authors will be telling you mystical or scientific stories related to the event, and they'll each be giving away a prize - books, gift cards, swag bags...and lots more! Plus there's TWO GRAND PRIZES! 1st Prize - a Kindle Touch or Nook Touch 2nd Prize -a library of science fiction romance titles from over 20 authors (these will be mostly ebooks with one print anthology), and an Anabanana Gift Card. All you need to do to enter is pop along to the blogs listed below and comment on as many as you want (only ONE comment per site will count as an entry). Each time you comment at a stop, you'll earn one entry into the grand prize - so the more sites you visit, the greater your chances of winning. The winners will be drawn at random on the 24th June and announced on this site. The list of participating authors can be found below this post. Spread the news!
