Lorijo Metz's Blog: ScifiWritermom, page 12

Deadlines, Aliens and Jane Austen

With a nonfiction deadline only days away, only half a book completed (granted, it’s a book for 2nd graders so, word-wise, there’s not that much to go) and a mini marathon to walk, requiring two precious writing days away from my computer to drive to the marathon site and back, I have no business writing a post. In fact, I’m so crabby and tired I had to go buy salsa and guacamole just to motivate myself to write. However, it was while I was out on my munchie run I came across something I just had to share: A Jane Austen quote.

I know, I’m ScifiWriterMom, right. But I love Jane Austen novels. I admit it, I have a huge crush on Darcy (a.k.a. Collin Firth) Actually, there is a new version of Pride and Prejudice with zombies in it. (Such a lovely cover.)

And you would think I’d be all over that; but honestly, I can see no reason to add zombies to as perfect a story as Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen’s world is nothing if not alien enough for me—thank you very much!

To close this post, here’s the quote. It’s from my favorite Jane Austen book, Emma.

“Silly things do cease to be silly

if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.”

I had to laugh. That’s me. That’s all my silly women friends. It’s all us sci-fi, fantasy and zombie loving women authors out there, writing about aliens and monsters and daring to take ourselves just the tiniest bit too seriously as we write about silly stuff. But isn’t that why we love writing!

Related articles

Quite Lost in Austen (cricketmuse.wordpress.com)
REVIEW: A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz (austenblog.com)
The Jane Austen Guide to Happily Ever After, by Elizabeth Kantor: A book review (janeaustensworld.wordpress.com)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – Paranormal Kindle Deal (kindleebookdeals.com)


Filed under: JOURNAL Tagged: Aliens, Arts, Collin Firth, Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, Emma, England, Jane Austen, Prejudice, Pride & Prejudice, Wheels, Zombies

City of the Falling Sky, by Joseph Evans

After reading the first chapter of City of the Falling Sky by Joseph Evans, my stomach did that nervous little twitter thing it does whenever I know I’m going to read something good. City of the Falling Sky is Evans first published novel, I believe, and it’s very good. Not perfect, but very good. While Joseph mentions on his website that he was influenced by Harry Potter, I found City of the Falling Sky unique. Seckry, the main character, is likable… almost lovable. In fact, Evans does a great job of making all his characters memorable. Also, there are some interesting twists in the story that I didn’t see coming. My only complaint might be the names he chose for some of the older characters, which sounded a bit silly to me. A minor complaint in all. For the young adult reader, there’s plenty of romance.I look forward to seeing how Evans grows as an author. City of the Falling Sky is obviously only just the beginning…

Filed under: BOOK REVIEWS Tagged: Arts, Book reviews, Ched Evans, Clayton McDonald, Evan, Evan Joseph, Harry Potter, Literature, science fiction, twitter, YA, Young adult

It’s Freebie Friday, except…it’s Wednesday

I wanted to run a freebie friday promotion to promote my new YA, Scifi Adventure novel, WHEELS, but family calls and I’ll be deep in the South, eating lots of fried food and visiting with my daughter. Soooo, Freebie Friday is coming to you two days early. Kind of like Christmas in July.

Happy Freebie Day–Ho, ho, ho!

To download your free eBook (Kindle) copy of WHEELS (That’s a mouth full) just click on the little book (or go to: http://amzn.to/J5rttm). Also free, I believe, if you have the iPad Kindle app. Enjoy

http://amzn.to/J5rttm

P.S. A few of you have mentioned wanting a traditional, paper bound copy of WHEELS. Don’t worry, it’s coming soon.

Filed under: SHARINGS Tagged: Blog, Books, Christmas, Fiction, Free, Free ebooks, Freebie Friday, Freebies, Holidays, Shopping, United States

WHEELS by Lorijo Metz

In honor of the release of my new YA, science fiction adventure, WHEELS, (available in

The Last Great Wizard of Yden by S.G. Rogers

Once again, I've received a contract to write a few more educational books. So, in order to keep up the book review portion of my blog I'm going to shorten my reviews. Here goes…

The Last Great Wizard of Yden

 by S.G. Rogers

Who do I think would like this book?

While reading The Last Great Wizard of Yden, I imagined myself as a middle schooler or young High School student. Back then I was reading books like C.S. Lewis' Narnia series and The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. While I wouldn't put the The Last Great Wizard of Yden on the same level, I know I would have enjoyed reading it very much and been anxious to read further adventures in the series. It's a great read for boys or girls. That said, even as an adult I enjoyed it!

What was the best part?

Hands down: Jon Hansen's  special ability. I can't tell you what it is. You need to read the book. All I can say is that it's really cool (I honestly do use words like "cool" a lot), and if you're at all artistic you'll especially love it.

Where can you buy a copy?

Astraea Press, Amazon, BN.com

Find out more about the author: S.G. Rogers at:

Child of Yden: Escape Into Fantasy…

Related articles

C.S. Lewis on Why We Should Do (and read) the Things We Do (marccortez.com)
Two for Tea: CS Lewis and the Musty Study (themustystudy.com)


Filed under: BOOK REVIEWS Tagged: Book review, CS Lewis, Great Comet, Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, Last Great Wizard of Yden, S.G. Rogers, The Chronicles of Narnia

The Last Egg: A story about Easter Eggs, Aliens and Faith

Easter eggs (Photo credit: StSaling)

It was a chilly, rainy, Easter Sunday. We'd been to church and back, and my family, all nine hundred and ninety nine of them—okay, maybe only seventeen—were tromping around my house hunting for Easter Eggs. I was pleased because this year was going to be different. Every Easter my nephews talk me into letting them hide the Easter Eggs, and every Easter there's always one egg we can't find. One lousy egg that eludes everyone—for a couple of months—then it's just a simple matter of sniff, find, and fumigate. But those eggs—those last eggs aren't the ones this story is about.

As I was saying, this year was going to be different. This year I'd hidden the eggs. Not only hidden them, but noted in detail, via my fancy MacBook Pro, the exact location of all twenty-four eggs. It was brilliant.

Confident, I tromped around with my video camera, trying to capture some golden Kodak moments. Great Grandma stealing candy out of the kids' baskets, my dad stealing eggs out of my nephew's basket, my dog stealing marshmallow bunnies he'd puke up sometime during the middle of the night; and of course, the innocent faces of children beaming as they uncovered beautiful multi-colored eggs.

I had just run upstairs for a quick bathroom break, was finished and standing at the top of the stairs, my foot poised to take that first step down—when it happened. There was a kind of blue-green shimmer and then a short, sharp, electric-sounding ZZZZAP. I paused, pulled my foot back, scrunched my eyes and—everything looked okay. Everything until—Georgia! My daughter was holding an egg up in the air, staring at it and staring at it and—oh my gosh, I thought, look at Great Grandma! I bent forward. She must have great thigh muscles because she's been squatting over that same chair, trying to sit down for thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two—Holy Easter Lilies—THEY're all frozen!

I fell against the wall, trying to catch my breath and unscramble my brain. Atomic bomb? No—that's ridiculous! It must be some sort of advanced time manipulation technology. Russian, maybe Chinese—Holy Cow! And that's when I saw them—Aliens. Three of them, beamed right into the middle of my living room. Little green men, big heads, wide eyes, skinny bodies and really, really deep voices. That was weird.

And wouldn't you know it, I'd left my camera sitting beside the toilet! Inching backwards, I ducked inside my son's bedroom, peeked my

head out, just enough to see, and prepared to listen.

You might think it strange I wasn't more frightened, I mean with my family down there and all; but looking back, I believe it was because the alien's voices were so mesmerizing…almost sultry.

"Joey," said the biggest one, his skinny green stomach bulging around the sides. An overweight alien? "Rememba, da boss sent us here to observe. No funny business. Don't want dis turning into one of doz…tabaloid fiascos."

Did I mention they sounded like Italian, New York mobsters?

"Hey boss," said the littlest one. "Whaddaya tink I am? An amateur?"

"Eh guys," said an alien I can best describe as, the ugly one, (he had a scar running all the way from his nonexistent chin to the top of his left nose hole) "look what I found." He was pointing to my daughter's hand, the one holding the egg.

"Yeah, and she ain't the only one." The littlest one said. "Dey's all holding pretty little oval-shaped thingies."

"Dem's eggs, knuckle head," said the big one. "Easta Eggs."

After that, I can't be sure who was talking because I'd ducked back into the room, not wanting to press my luck. But I could still hear their conversation.

"What's Easta Eggs?"

"Deys hides 'dem and deys looks for 'dem."

"Why?"

"Now ya startin to bug me Joey! Rememba, we's just here to observe, take notes and get back to da spaceship. DON'T be touching nonna dem Easta Eggs."

"Ah boss, whaddaya tink I am…whaddaya tink I am!"

It went on like this for a while, I heard them scurrying around my house—thank God they didn't come upstairs—and then suddenly there was that sound again, that electric ZZZAP and I heard my daughter yell, "Mom, Josh stole my egg! I had it. It was right here in my hand!"

Well, you guessed it. Sure enough, we searched and searched, then I got out my list, but in the end, there were only twenty-three eggs. The last egg was missing—never to be found.

So, that's my Easter mystery. Well, not really a mystery to me, but nobody else seems to believe me. You have to have faith, I tell them. Aliens really do exist. Just because you didn't see them, doesn't mean they weren't here!

Faith, that's all it takes. Faith and…a little Easter Mystery.

(Happy Easter. Hope you enjoyed my little Easter sci-fi story. I wrote it several years ago and thought it would be nice to share it again today.)

Filed under: SHARINGS Tagged: Aliens, Easter, Easter egg, egg, Holiday, Lorijo Metz, MacBook Pro, New York, Sunday

I Miss Writing!

Had to shut down my browser, take a deep breath, and STOP all social networking.

I MISS WRITING!!!!!

Unfortunately, being a writer isn't enough these days. Not if you want someone other than your mother to read your book.

You may have noticed I'm launching a new book soon, My YA science fiction novel, WHEELS. (Okay truth be told, it's already up for sale on Amazon, but the big announcement doesn't happen until next week. I just needed a week to breath.) Anyway, since the other books I've authored are geared toward the younger set, I wanted to revamp my website, my blog and basically, my virtual author image. As such, I have been immersing myself in social networking with the goal that someday, SOON, I can sit back and have time to write again. And I'm close… I'm so close to being there. Not that I have the whole social networking thing down perfectly—far from it. No, I'm close because I'm at the point where I'm ready to say, enough is enough! I'm a writer, not a tweeter… dammit!

Did I just swear? I'm sorry. I was feeling very Leonard McCoy-ish today. 

That said, I have to say, I've met some great people on Twitter and Goodreads. In fact, one of the books I'm currently reading, The Last Great Wizard of Yden, was written by one of my new twitter friends. In the age where bookstores are closing faster than trendy boutiques, it's great to have venues where you can get book recommendations. Goodreads.com, in fact, feels like a bookstore. I love, love, love the recommendations tab. If you love to read and you're not on Goodreads–go there now! Sign up. Really, stop reading my blog immediately and go sign up.

The rest of you, well, bear with me. I will be talking about something other than social networking soon. By the way, I'm going to see Michael Grant, author of the Gone series, at my local library this evening. Maybe he'll help remember what it is I do for a living. I write. Right?

Related articles

2011: 334 Books or A Reader's Year in Review (thesassylibrarian.blogspot.com)
Why Goodreads Gave Up on Amazon (readwriteweb.com)
Upstream vs. Downstream Social Networks: Content vs. Community (newcommbiz.com)
PGP-How Many Hats Do Independent Artists Have To Wear? (pluginin.org)


Filed under: JOURNAL Tagged: Amazon, Author, Gone, Goodread, Lorijo Metz, S.G. Rogers, science fiction, Social network, Social networking service, twitter, Wheels

Social Networking with Triberr

Original depiction of fictional anthropomorphic rabbit from the first chapter of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Journal Entry: 3.29.12

Spent the day trying to learn how to be a better social networker. (I can just imagine some mom of the future saying, "Johnny, no girl is ever going to date you unless you expand your social network. No one wants a guy with only 50 followers.)

Anyway, this means I spent the day staring at my computer, googling, reading, scrolling, clicking, and trying to decipher what social plan of action to take. This is what I learned: If you google, How to increase your following on twitter, it's like jumping down a virtual rabbit hole. "Ahhhhh" T.M.I., Google! Way too much information!

About 4:30 p.m. my dog, Henry, plopped his little furry behind beside me, looked up, and gave me that look that said I'd been ignoring him, I was bad dog owner, and I better take him for a walk or he'd call the Anti Cruelty Society. Woof, woof! So I did. I took him for a walk. Henry is so smart.

The walk cleared my mind and reminded of  my goal:

I'd like to spend a half hour in the morning on social networking.

Tweeting and scrolling through twitter to see what's up.
Checking out interesting websites and links, people's books and such
Posting on Pinterest.
Glancing at Facebook
And Triberr? (See more about this below)

Then, one half hour at the end of the day doing the same thing.

Is that unreasonable? I know-I know…if I don't use a timer there's no way that half hour plan of action will stick. However, as an author, whether you're picked up by one of the big publishing houses (like I was for my first picture book) or a self-published eBook author (like I'm contemplating becoming in the near future), unless you're one of the lucky .01 percent, the marketing falls on your shoulders. And, in today's world, that means social networking. So… how to do it and still have time to write? I don't know. However, today, I did take a baby step: I joined Triberr.

That's triberr.com. I like the concept…I think? If it is what I think it is, by joining so-called "tribes" you add power to your tweets by having them automatically reposted by your tribe mates; thus, expanding your twitter exposure.

I'm still learning. In fact, right now I'm a bit overwhelmed. That said, if you want to join my tribe (is this sounding a bit like social gang talk?) comment on this post, adding your twitter account, and I'll send you an invite.

By the way, my Triberr group is "Middle-Grade/YA Sci-fi and Fantasy Books and Writing" We're all about: Writers and Readers who love everything from Tolkien and J.K. Rowling, to Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman…and more, so many, many more! Let's talk about books we love, share writing tips, give support, blog about each other's books, and maybe add a few laughs along the way. Go ahead, be a nerd, join our tribe–may the force be with us!

That's it. I've had enough of staring at a little glowing screen for one day. Check out the links below if you want to learn more about Triberr. Also, comment. Tell me what works for you. Point me in the right direction. Better yet, invite me to join your tribe!

Related articles

http://jennyhansenauthor.wordpress.com/category/technology-fun/triberr/ (5 part series on Triberr)
Social Media Tip Tuesday: 4 New Useful Social Networks for Small Businesses (thenextwomen.com)
My Top 7 Favorite Tools (iamallatwitteraboutlife.blogspot.com)
Guest Blogging Made Easy With Triberr (seanclark.com)
#Triberr: 8 Steps To Being A Great Tribe Mate (anisesmithmarketing.com)
Four reasons why I finally like Triberr (businessesgrow.com)
Blog Traffic, Think Tribe ..Go #Triberr (anisesmithmarketing.com)


Filed under: JOURNAL Tagged: authors, Clive Barker, Facebook, Google, J.K. Rowling, Pinterest, Publishing, self publishing, Social network, twitter, Wikipedia

The Iron King, by Julie Kagawa

Fantasy author and writer friend, Shawn Wickersheim, recommended I read The Iron King. Let me be more specific: tough, scary-if-you-happened-to-be-alone-when-you-run-into-him-in-a-dark-alley Shawn Wickersheim, author of the gritty, dark, fantasy adventure, The Penitent Assassin, recommended I read The Iron King. I point this out only because The Iron King is a Harlequin Teen novel.

Ha, ha—that's right, Shawn, you read a Harlequin teen novel. Harlequin, as in Harlequin Romances! I always knew Shawn had a dark side–but this?

All kidding aside, The Iron King is a fabulous read for anyone, any gender, who enjoys fantasy. I read my share of Harlequin romances back in fifth grade (my dark secret) and this Harlequin novel is nothing like those formulaic romances of old. (To be fair, I'm sure Harlequin romances today are a far cry from what they were when I was in fifth grade, oh, so many years ago…)

The author, Julie Kagawa, knows her Shakespeare and while staying true to the characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream, gives us an edgy, YA, fantasy adventure. But she doesn't stop there. In addition to a world populated by the likes of King Oberon, Queen Titania and the famous Puck, Kagawa has created a new faery realm. A realm populated by faeries created out of 20th and 21st century imaginations: the iron fey, "…the faeries of progress and technology."

Somewhere in the story, Puck notes that as long as he lives in our imaginations, he will always exist. But as humans become increasingly obsessed with technology, and the strength and reach of the iron fey, led by King Machina, grows, Puck's world, and that of his fellow summer and winter faeries, is increasingly in danger.

Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Noel Paton: fairies in Shakespeare (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That's where Megan Chase comes in. Spoiler alert: Megan is half human and half faery. I'm not going to tell you who her daddy is, but he's big—very big—in faery terms. Besides creating faeries made of iron (Which is really cool. I wish I had thought of it.), another reason this book is so good is its heroine, Megan Chase. Yes, there is romance—with a hot faery guy, no less—but it's not Twilight romance. Megan isn't some whiny girl ready to give up everything (including her personality) for love. (Side note: I loved Twilight, but I wanted to slap Bella. Really, girl, you need a hobby other than vampires!) Anyway, Megan is not whiny. She's brave, she's a good sister and yes, at times, your regular old teenager (but like I said, not whiny. Well… not too whiny).

The Iron King is the first in the Iron Fey series, followed by the e-novella, Winter's Passage, The Iron Daughter, The Iron Queen, Summer's Crossing and The Iron Knight. I'm not sure if I'll read all of them, but if I was in my teens or twenties, I surely would. What the heck, I still might. By the way (in my opinion) The Iron King is suitable reading for 7th grade and up.

That's it. My intent with these book reviews is to keep them brief. If I review a book, it's because I like it. The world is full of books, why continue reading something you don't enjoy?

Filed under: BOOK REVIEWS Tagged: Fairy, Harlequin, Harlequin Enterprises, Iron Daughter, Iron King, Julie Kagawa, Lorijo Metz, Oberon, Persephone, Puck, Shawn Wickersheim, The Penitent Assassin, Titania

Female Superheroes Kick Brains, Not Butts!

Chloe, from Smallville, is a Super-Computer-Girl!

The other day I commented to my spouse that it surprised me our good friend, who is gay (as in, lesbian), likes Superman so much. Assuming the reason I like Superman has more to do with his tights than his personality, it seemed to me that it would be more logical for our friend to like a hot female superhero. How shallow I am! But then it hit me, our friend likes Superman because he's a hero. He has the best super powers! Who wouldn't want to fly, run faster than a speeding bullet, have x-ray vision and super hearing, to name just a few of the cool things he can do. Unfortunately, for women, there aren't many female superhero options.

I realize if you happen to be a huge comic book fan, you can probably name any number of female, kick-butt superheroes. But for the general public, think about it—as a female, what superhero would you want to be?

Catwoman? We'd all like to look like her, but was she good or bad, I can't remember. I would rather be Batman—better toys, more money and an awesome hideout.
Wonder Woman? Once again, we'd all like to look like her; but frankly, her outfit looks mighty uncomfortable!

On the other hand, here are just a few of the numerous options for guys.

James Bond: Good looks, hot cars, money, toys, travel, and of course, girls.
Spider-Man: How fun would it be to swing from building to building!
Iron Man: Money, cool toys, power, etc., etc….

In any case, I continued to ponder this and came up with what, I think, is an interesting conclusion. Just as men are different from women, if you want to create a truly kick-butt female superhero, in order for woman to want to be her, she needs to be different than a male superhero. Face it–Wonder Woman and Cat Woman are just wannabe male superheroes, that's why they don't cut it.

And after coming to that conclusion I realized there a few female superhero-like characters that, if I could, I would want to be.

Notice who's in front!

My #1 choice: Dr. Temperance Brennan, from the TV show, Bones. Of course she's good looking, but she's also smarter than everyone else, admired by all, and extremely successful.

Brilliant and Brave

#2 choice: Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. Though she starts out a bit weak, it's pretty clear by the second book that Harry and Ron would be total losers without her. Her brilliance saves the day on many occasions. Plus, several books later, she turns out to be hot.

Ahead of her time.

Finally, #3: Nancy Drew! Nancy Drew was smart, brave and like Temperance Brennan, admired by all!

Ah well, here's my challenge to you: Who is (or would be) your female superhero and why?

Filed under: MUSINGS Tagged: 007, Art, Catwoman, David E. Kelley, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Iron Man, James Bond, Nancy Drew, postaweek2011, Smallville, Spider Man, Superhero, Television program, Temperance "Bones" Brennan, Wonder Woman