Lynn Flewelling's Blog, page 28
January 26, 2012
Short Story "Seven Years" now available!
As promised, my male romance story is online at: http://cupoporn.net/2012/01/26/birthday-bash-free-story-15/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Adult content.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
January 25, 2012
My Blushes, Watson!
*Adult Content Ahead*
A while back my friend, m/m romance writer Marie Sexton, asked if I'd contribute a spicy story to her website, Coffee and Porn in the Morning, otherwise known as Cupoporn on Twitter. It's a fun site, but be warned, it is rife with naked men. (Actually, that's probably the opposite from a warning for a lot of you).
I said, "Sure!" little knowing how difficult it was going to be. I've spent so long avoiding writing stories where sex and romance are the main point! But I took it on as creative challenge and the result is that "Seven Years" will appear on the site at 7:30 pm Central Time tomorrow. I'm only one of many writers contributing, and the others are far more expert than I am at this genre. Here's the full schedule. Enjoy!
Monday, January 23rd:
9:00: Megan Slayer
11:00: Carter Quinn
2:30: JP Barnaby
4:30: SA Meade
7:30: RJ Scott
Tuesday, January 24th:
9:00: Clare London
11:00: Jessica Freely
2:30: Ethan Stone
4:30: Silvia Violet
7:30: KC Burn
Wednesday, January 25th:
9:00: Lara Brukz
11:00: Amy Lane
2:30: Lou Sylvre
4:30: Pender Mackie
7:30: Talia Carmichael
Thursday, January 26th:
9:00: VJ Summers
11:00: Josephine Myles
2:30: Jaime Samms
4:30: Lou Harper
7:30: Lynn Flewelling
Friday, January 27th:
9:00 Marie Sexton
11:00: Andrea Speed
2:30: DC Juris
4:30: Heidi Cullinan
A while back my friend, m/m romance writer Marie Sexton, asked if I'd contribute a spicy story to her website, Coffee and Porn in the Morning, otherwise known as Cupoporn on Twitter. It's a fun site, but be warned, it is rife with naked men. (Actually, that's probably the opposite from a warning for a lot of you).
I said, "Sure!" little knowing how difficult it was going to be. I've spent so long avoiding writing stories where sex and romance are the main point! But I took it on as creative challenge and the result is that "Seven Years" will appear on the site at 7:30 pm Central Time tomorrow. I'm only one of many writers contributing, and the others are far more expert than I am at this genre. Here's the full schedule. Enjoy!
Monday, January 23rd:
9:00: Megan Slayer
11:00: Carter Quinn
2:30: JP Barnaby
4:30: SA Meade
7:30: RJ Scott
Tuesday, January 24th:
9:00: Clare London
11:00: Jessica Freely
2:30: Ethan Stone
4:30: Silvia Violet
7:30: KC Burn
Wednesday, January 25th:
9:00: Lara Brukz
11:00: Amy Lane
2:30: Lou Sylvre
4:30: Pender Mackie
7:30: Talia Carmichael
Thursday, January 26th:
9:00: VJ Summers
11:00: Josephine Myles
2:30: Jaime Samms
4:30: Lou Harper
7:30: Lynn Flewelling
Friday, January 27th:
9:00 Marie Sexton
11:00: Andrea Speed
2:30: DC Juris
4:30: Heidi Cullinan
January 24, 2012
January 20, 2012
Fan Art!
I haven't received any fan art for a while, and today not one but TWO spectacular pieces arrived.
Here is new reader's Amanda Turco's haunting rendition of Tamir/Tobin.
And from our very talented Casey Beck, a very mischievous Illia Cavish!
Thank you both so much! 8-)
Here is new reader's Amanda Turco's haunting rendition of Tamir/Tobin.
And from our very talented Casey Beck, a very mischievous Illia Cavish!
Thank you both so much! 8-)
January 11, 2012
Guest Blogger: Joshua Palmatier/Benjamin Tate
Today's guest blogger is Joshua Palmatier (aka Benjamin Tate), a fantasy writer with DAW Books, with two series on the shelf, a few short stories, and is co-editor with Patricia Bray of two anthologies. Check out the "Throne of Amenkor" trilogy—The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, and The Vacant Throne—under the Joshua Palmatier name. And look for the "Well" series—Well of Sorrows and the just released Leaves of Flame—by Benjamin Tate. Short stories are included in the anthologies Close Encounters of the Urban Kind (edited by Jennifer Brozek), Beauty Has Her Way (Jennifer Brozek), and River (Alma Alexander). And the two anthologies he's co-edited are After Hours: Tales from the Ur-bar and the upcoming The Modern Fae's Guide to Surviving Humanity (March 2012). Find out more about both names at www.joshuapalmatier.com and www.benjamintate.com, as well as on Facebook, LiveJournal (jpsorrow), and Twitter (bentateauthor).
Fantasy is in the details.
One of the most challenging and necessary elements of any fantasy novel is the world, and often the time spent by an author on the world makes or breaks the enjoyment of a fantasy novel for me as a reader. Given how often reviewers comment on the world in a fantasy novel, I'm not the only one who pays attention to it. I'm happy to say that every review I can think of for my newest series—started with Well of Sorrows and continuing with the new release of Leaves of Flame—has picked out the worldbuilding as unique and different and engrossing. I'm rather stoked about this, since I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the world. What I've found is that what makes the world come to life, what makes it REAL, are the details.
For example, in this series, nearly everyone falls in love with a race I called the dwarren, a group of people that lives in a massive warren of tunnels beneath the plains of the newly discovered continent, sort of like prairie dogs. The dwarren are modeled after dwarves . . . but they aren't dwarves. The way I made them NOT dwarves is in the details. Sure they live underground, sure they're short and have beards. But they're still not dwarves. I tweaked their culture and their religion specifically to make them familiar, but unique and different. They're divided into warring clans, who ride the plains on gaezel (not horses). Their beards record their personal history, with achievements woven and tied into the braids using feathers and beads and intricate knots. They have pierced noses and ears, with chains running from one to the other. They use tents when above ground, wrapping cloth around poles. Their shamans carry scepters made with feathers and snake rattles.
But all of that is cosmetic. It's moving away from the dwarven trope, but it isn't enough to just splash on some new paint. You have to take the culture and twist it as well. For the dwarren, I began integrating religious ideas modeled after Native Americans. (After all, the books begin with the settling of a new continent, sort of like the settling of the American West.) So the dwarren revere the land and intend to protect it, setting aside their clan differences when necessary. They worship gods of nature, of water and wind, and commune with the gods by smoking a particular weed and interpreting the resultant visions. Their shamans also use the inherent magic in the land to see signs of the gods will in the wind, in storms, in the smoke from the fire, in the kernels of grain pulled from the stalks of grass. They're short-lived, so compensate by having large families. They are fiercely protective of their privacy, allowing no one within their warrens and keeping the locations of their entrances hidden, especially the location of the Sacred Waters, a confluence of rivers beneath the plains.
Each of these details, each of these little nuances, gives the dwarren depth and makes them come alive. And each detail draws them farther away from the dwarven trope, making them individual and unique. These are not your typical D&D dwarves. They're dwarren—familiar enough for you to settle back, read, and enjoy discovering how different from dwarves they actually are.
Fantasy is in the details.
One of the most challenging and necessary elements of any fantasy novel is the world, and often the time spent by an author on the world makes or breaks the enjoyment of a fantasy novel for me as a reader. Given how often reviewers comment on the world in a fantasy novel, I'm not the only one who pays attention to it. I'm happy to say that every review I can think of for my newest series—started with Well of Sorrows and continuing with the new release of Leaves of Flame—has picked out the worldbuilding as unique and different and engrossing. I'm rather stoked about this, since I spent quite a bit of time thinking about the world. What I've found is that what makes the world come to life, what makes it REAL, are the details.
For example, in this series, nearly everyone falls in love with a race I called the dwarren, a group of people that lives in a massive warren of tunnels beneath the plains of the newly discovered continent, sort of like prairie dogs. The dwarren are modeled after dwarves . . . but they aren't dwarves. The way I made them NOT dwarves is in the details. Sure they live underground, sure they're short and have beards. But they're still not dwarves. I tweaked their culture and their religion specifically to make them familiar, but unique and different. They're divided into warring clans, who ride the plains on gaezel (not horses). Their beards record their personal history, with achievements woven and tied into the braids using feathers and beads and intricate knots. They have pierced noses and ears, with chains running from one to the other. They use tents when above ground, wrapping cloth around poles. Their shamans carry scepters made with feathers and snake rattles.
But all of that is cosmetic. It's moving away from the dwarven trope, but it isn't enough to just splash on some new paint. You have to take the culture and twist it as well. For the dwarren, I began integrating religious ideas modeled after Native Americans. (After all, the books begin with the settling of a new continent, sort of like the settling of the American West.) So the dwarren revere the land and intend to protect it, setting aside their clan differences when necessary. They worship gods of nature, of water and wind, and commune with the gods by smoking a particular weed and interpreting the resultant visions. Their shamans also use the inherent magic in the land to see signs of the gods will in the wind, in storms, in the smoke from the fire, in the kernels of grain pulled from the stalks of grass. They're short-lived, so compensate by having large families. They are fiercely protective of their privacy, allowing no one within their warrens and keeping the locations of their entrances hidden, especially the location of the Sacred Waters, a confluence of rivers beneath the plains.
Each of these details, each of these little nuances, gives the dwarren depth and makes them come alive. And each detail draws them farther away from the dwarven trope, making them individual and unique. These are not your typical D&D dwarves. They're dwarren—familiar enough for you to settle back, read, and enjoy discovering how different from dwarves they actually are.
January 10, 2012
Today's Best Typo
Mike dropped his pack and ran back down the path to the water's edge, heedless of cocks and roots.
January 6, 2012
2012, we're not getting off on a good foot.
This year has not gotten off to a wonderful start. Right before New Year's we both came down with a wretched, week-long bout of stomach flu, worst we've had in ages. Seems to be going around in our area.
I finally got solidly back on my feet Tuesday and Wednesday night some idiot T-boned me in an intersection. Bashed in the driver's side doors so they couldn't open, tore the metal there, deployed the side curtain airbags (thank goodness) and tore the right front wheel off the axel. Had my first ambulance ride for x-rays. Nothing broken. My poor car Herry is heading to the body shop today for diagnosis. Hope he's not totaled, poor thing. He protected me well.
So, aching head held high, I soldier on into this strange new year.
I finally got solidly back on my feet Tuesday and Wednesday night some idiot T-boned me in an intersection. Bashed in the driver's side doors so they couldn't open, tore the metal there, deployed the side curtain airbags (thank goodness) and tore the right front wheel off the axel. Had my first ambulance ride for x-rays. Nothing broken. My poor car Herry is heading to the body shop today for diagnosis. Hope he's not totaled, poor thing. He protected me well.
So, aching head held high, I soldier on into this strange new year.
December 31, 2011
Oh, to be in England, now that Sherlock's here.
What I wouldn't give . . . When, oh when does it come to the US??
Happy New Year, all!
Happy New Year, all!
December 24, 2011
Season's Greetings!
Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Yule, and warm thoughts to you all!
Three pies are ready for tomorrow (venison mincemeat, courtesy of my mom, pumpkin, and wild Maine blueberry), the spritz are baking, rum balls are rolled, and the traditional Christmas eve oyster stew is about to go on the heat. Presents are wrapped, including the dog and cats', and we're all taking a break listening to Mozart and playing games.
I love Christmas.
Three pies are ready for tomorrow (venison mincemeat, courtesy of my mom, pumpkin, and wild Maine blueberry), the spritz are baking, rum balls are rolled, and the traditional Christmas eve oyster stew is about to go on the heat. Presents are wrapped, including the dog and cats', and we're all taking a break listening to Mozart and playing games.
I love Christmas.
December 16, 2011
Magick4Terri Auction over
The auction is over and I just wanted to thank everyone who so generously bid! I am just bowled over at the final bids. As soon as I receive mailing info I will get those items in the mail.
Hugs to all!
Hugs to all!
