L.K. Rigel's Blog, page 14
April 12, 2012
Leopold’s (Final?) Upgrade
Here is the latest upgrade for The Loves of Leopold Singer. I think this one will stick at last. It’s coming out of Amazon Select on April 25 and will be back at B&N and iTunes.
Leopold's (Final?) Upgrade
Here is the latest upgrade for The Loves of Leopold Singer. I think this one will stick at last. It's coming out of Amazon Select on April 25 and will be back at B&N and iTunes.
April 10, 2012
The Ugliness of Game of Thrones
I've been grousing about Game of Thrones a lot since the new season started. The rampant degrading treatment of women is pissing me off. I've been bitching about it on Facebook, but I find I have a full post's worth of disgust to express.
Martin's created a world of beautiful pornographic sex and pornographic violence too. By that, I mean it feels like a lot of times the sex *is* violence, and the violence is getting somebody (Martin?) off. It's easy story-telling. A shiny object designed to fake the viewer into thinking something is going on.
I call it pornographic because the sex or the violence turns characters into objects and uses them without acknowledging their humanity.
And all with a wink to the audience. See how cool I am? How clever? See what nasty and degrading things I can say and get away with? Oh, but it's fine because I'm awesome!
Martin throws in token undegraded women in positions of (secondary and compromised) power. But Arya! but Dani!
Even Yara Greyjoy, elevated to the position of heir, couldn't get away with it unmolested. Her brother had to feel her up and talk dirty to her all way from the docks to the castle.
But it was supposedly okay because she had snappy comebacks.
The show tries to pull me, the viewer, in on it. Puts me in the position of compliance, agreement. I'm not compliant. Do men who watch this crap get off on it? Do other women feel abused by it like I do? I don't find it clever. I find it lazy, abusive. It makes me wonder if only men are involved in positions of power on the production team.
There are two scenes in Bleeder where characters are abused sexually for different reasons. They were difficult to write, and I debated whether to keep them in. In the end, I did because they are essential to the story. But I don't try to make the reader enjoy the scenes or think of the abuse as clever or entertaining.
It comes to this: I'm not against abusive sex or violence in stories. I'm against presenting them as sources of gratification to the reader/viewer. At least, that's my hypothesis. I'm still testing it.
I'm still watching Game of Thrones. I keep watching for Dani and Arya and Dinklage. But I feel myself losing interest. I feel myself not wanting to waste my time.
April 8, 2012
April Reading Challenge and $25 Amazon Gift Card Too
Stella at Ex Libris is hosting a year-long reading challenge, and the Apocalyptos are sponsoring the month of April.
This month, it's all about Science Fiction Romance.
If you review any (not just by LK Rigel) science fiction romance this month, be sure to sign up for Stella's challenge and post the link to your review. It's fun, your review will get new readers, and you might win a $25 Amazon gift card. It's all good!
Of course I'd love to see some more reviews of Space Junque, Spiderwork, and Bleeder out there. And the poor Apocalypto Omnibus has zero reviews at B&N and only four at Amazon. Two of them aren't very nice, ha. One reader couldn't finish because they were so lacking in imagination, ha, and another found them pornographic. (?)
Anyway! If you've read any science fiction romance you'd like to leave a review for, April is a good month to get that done.
Some Science Fiction Romance To Consider
(Click on the pix for their Goodreads pages)
Discovery: A Far Out Romance - you know I love this fun romance!
Grimspace – the one that starts off the Sirantha Jax series.
Once Upon a Time in Space – how can you resist this perfectly titled novel?
Heather runs the wonderful Galaxy Express website. There just happens to be a current post about SFR news!
Encrypted – if you haven't discovered Lindsay Buroker yet, dooooo eeeeeeeet!
March 29, 2012
Win a $100 Gift Card from Amazon or B&N
As Ereader News Today reports:
Sandra Edwards is having a monthly contest for anyone who has read any of her books where she is giving away a $100 Gift Certificate from Amazon, BN or iTunes – winner gets to choose.
All that you need to do to enter is leave a review for one of her books – good OR bad.
You can leave a review at any number of sites and you will get one entry for every site that you leave a review.
So, there's not much that you need to do to get entered but the reward will be very nice!
You know we're all about winning gift cards here – and Sandra's books are so fun to read. Good luck!
March 24, 2012
I Ruined His Life
I have a new release. This is a departure for me, a contemporary romance, a novelette sized (about 42 pages) story I couldn't stop thinking about.
If you've read Ruin, it could use some help with "likes" and reviews on its Amazon page.
I Ruined His Life will run one course in the Kindle Select library and then go out to B&N and iBooks.
Guilt and attraction make a strange blend…
On her first case as a lawyer, Bethany Draughen exposes shoddy workmanship done by a luxury home builder and forces a multimillion dollar settlement. The case establishes Beth's reputation – and ruins Caleb Marke's life.
That was three years ago. When by chance Beth sees Cale again at a deposition, he makes it quite clear he wants revenge–then he double-dog dares her to go out with him. Beth should run the opposite direction, but she can't deny her attraction to the guy.
It's a battle between lust for revenge and just plain lust. Beth ruined Cale's life. Can she trust him now not to ruin hers?
I Ruined His Life is a short novella (novelette length), about 10,500 words. Equivalent to about 42 pages in print. Sweet contemporary romance.
In other news, The Loves of Leopold Singer has another new cover. I love this one.
March 18, 2012
Bleeder and Give Me Nominated For Best of 2011!
This is fun! The Romance Reviews has nominated Give Me – A Tale of Wyrd and Fae as Best Fantasy Romance of 2011!
(Give Me is on sale now for only $1.49 for both Nook and Kindle.)
But wait! There's more!!
TRR has also nominated Bleeder (Apocalypto 3) as best Romantic Science Fiction / Futuristic of 2011.
Bleeder Nook … Bleeder Kindle
The voting has started and continues until March 31. There are lots of wonderful books in the matchups. If you enjoyed Give Me or Bleeder, I'd love some support in the voting!
And thank you SO MUCH to the nominators.
March 15, 2012
March 14, 2012
Give Me – Back at B&N and on sale.
My experiment with Amazon's Lending Library isn't over, but it's certainly in a new phase. I've taken Give Me – A Tale of Wyrd and Fae out of the Select program, and it's again available for Nook.
Nook readers (and Fire users) will enjoy the beautiful interior design by TERyvisions.
Everyone will love the sale price: $1.49. Wowzers!
Space Junque, Spiderwork, and Bleeder are also back at B&N, and I've been pleasantly surprised – there have been sales!
I'll probably still use the Select program for the first three months of stand-alone books. I just don't have a large enough fan base chomping at the bit to buy my books when they come out, so I need to use what promotional tools are available to me. But I can't see staying in the LL as viable in the long term.
March 8, 2012
500 Fairy Tales Freed From Archive
This story from The Guardian sounds like it could be a modern fairy tale in itself.
I wonder what the magic words were to open the archive?
A link to one of the new stories is included. I like the one about the girl, the pond, the witch, and the knife. Gruesome!
