M.J. Scott's Blog, page 10

Books for cooks

If you read this blog and follow me elsewhere, you’ll know I like to cook. I also like cookbooks though I do try to be good and not buy all the pretties. But there have a been a couple lately that may have snuck into the house when I wasn’t looking.

Firstly:

Jamie Oliver’s take on healthier food. So far, thumbs up to the few things I’ve made. Standard, easy to follow Jamie (His cookbooks are always good) recipes with a few exotic ingredients given the superfoods theme.

Secondly:

So far, I’m loving this cookbook. I’ve always liked Nigella’s recipes but they aren’t always a bastion of healthy eating. The mains I’ve tried from this though have all been really tasty and pretty healthy. I haven’t yet delved into the tempting cakes and desserts section except for one cake which was very good but am expecting more good things. Will be trying lots more recipes from this.

Thirdly:

I wasn’t going to buy this one. I have a couple of Yottam Ottolenghi’s cookbooks and everything is always delicious, if a little time consuming but Nopi seemed like it was moving away from the middle eastern flavour that I love about his food and is also a more restaurant-y (aka more complex recipes) cookbook. So I was going to pass. However, I decided to enter a Instagram comp to win a copy and duly did (colour me surprised as I never win such things). So yay. I shall investigate when I have days for leisurely cooking.

Lastly:

I have really enjoyed Chat 10 Looks 3, the podcast Annabel does with Leigh Sales, this year and they are both always talking about delicious sounding things they’ve made, so I had to get Annabel’s cookbook. To be tested out in the Christmas holidays as there are many yummy sounding things in here.

PS May have also aquired the Women’s Weekly Best Ever Collection thanks to Leigh Sales talking about it on this podcast. So much cooking, so little time Also, podcasts are bad for the wallet. Or maybe that’s just me?

Anyone else got a cookbook they’ve been loving lately?

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State of the Mel #8

Every so often I do one of these posts, mostly for new followers at various places to catch folks up on who I am, what I do and an update for everyone on what I’m working on. So here it is…

Who am I?

I’m Melanie Scott (most commonly answering to Mel). I write books. Specifically I write fantasy (dark and urban) as M.J. Scott and contemporary romance as Melanie Scott.

Selfies are good. Have a selfie. Me with desperately in need of haircut fringe (now remedied) and new pink lipstick.

M.J writes dark fantasy (the Half-Light City series which is now finished and The Four Arts series which began with THE SHATTERED COURT in April) and urban fantasy (The Wild Side series). Currently sorting out the schedule for the next few M.J. books so hopefully news on that soon.

Melanie writes the New York Saints series. Book 1 in that series THE DEVIL IN DENIM came out in August 2014. Publisher’s Weekly picked it as one of their Top 10 Fall 2014 romances, so that was pretty cool. Book 2 ANGEL IN ARMANI came out December 2014. Book 3, LAWLESS IN LEATHER came out in May. Book 4, PLAYING HARD is out 2 Feb 2016 (aka not that long now, have you pre-ordered? ;D) and then Book 5, PLAYING FAST, sometime later in 2016. Read more here.

My agent is Miriam Kriss at the Irene Goodman Literary Agency. She’s the gal to speak to if you have queries about rights to any of my stuff.

More specifically I’m of the female persuasion, I have a day job that I don’t tend to talk about much online and so far have survived four decades living in Australia home of many things that the rest of the world believes will cause instant death (to be fair, some of them do but they don’t tend to hang around cities so I’m cool with them). I live in Melbourne which is down south where coffee is weirdly popular (I do not drink the stuff), so is Australian rules football (I do not really do football) and the weather is temperamental (we like four seasons in one day and always having to pack an umbrella). It is now Summer here. So far late Spring and Summer has been weirdly cool interspersed with too hot for this pale gal. I am Team Moderate Temperatures, so I like spring and autumn). Not Team Winter or Team Summer (too pale skinned to love sunbaking though I do love swimming and the ocean so Team Vampire Strength Sunscreen). If I’m ever really rich, maybe I’ll just follow Spring around the world. I drink Coke Zero. Coffee makes me sick (hence I do not drink it) and tea just doesn’t caffeine me well enough. Besides writing, I like geeky things, movies, TV, ballet, knitting, food, photography, watercolours, stationery, music, baking, project life, naps, travel and books. I also have my girly moments (nails/make up/perfume/sparkly things/bags/shoes). I like to talk about all these things here on my blog.

I am an experienced cat butler. My two current feline employers are the Torti (a relatively sane for a calico/tortoiseshell girl who like rattly mice and glaring out windows at birds and other cats who have the temerity to wander into her line of vision) and the Fuzzy Girl (a slightly less sane, built like Garfield, tad un-coordinated, very chatty fluffy grey and white girl) who likes naps, tummy rubs, telling everybody everything that has happened every second of the day and falling off the sofa in her sleep). The previous employers (if you go delving into the archives) were the Orange Cat (a very sweet but neurotic red burmese boy) and the Grey Cat (possibly the most sane of my cats, a fluffy smoke tabby moggy girl). I hang out with friends of the writer and non writer variety and I am slightly prone to klutziness. Like break-ankle-getting-up-from-couch klutziness. Maybe this is why I knew the Fuzzy Girl was meant to be a me cat.

My teeny tiny garden is often neglected even though I like growing things.  Currently attempting tomatoes for summer after complete tomato fail last year (last year we had an oddly cool summer which I do not think is going to happen this year) and a new crop of various house plants of the ‘surely I can’t kill one of these variety’. I am team Iron Man, team Buffy, team Thor, team Ollicity, team Baymax, team genre, team animation, team Outlander, team Winchester, team Jennifer Jones, team Austen, team Minions, team fantasy, team happy endings are the best, team chocolate (preferably dark), team margarita, team ginger beer, team science, team musical, team music in general, team my heart belongs to Number 10, team reading is sexy, team thinking, team virgo, team colour and pictures make me happy, team baking, team movement is good even when you don’t want to, team glow, team don’t be a douche and team life is better with folks who make you laugh.

More about the books, please?

The Half-Light City series is an alt-world dark fantasy quadrology. It has fae and vampires and werewolves and magic and follows a bunch of characters through a particularly troublesome time in the Half-Light City which houses many races and many problems. All four books SHADOW KIN, BLOOD KIN, IRON KIN and FIRE KIN are available at all the usual places.

The Four Arts series is also an alt-world dark fantasy series (at this stage I think it’s a trilogy but heck, I thought that about the Half-Light series initially). It has witches and demons and religious differences and a heroine trying not to get her life ruined by all of the above. It began with THE SHATTERED COURT in April (also available as an audiobook). I’m currently working on the second book which is tentatively titled THE FORBIDDEN HEIR.

The Wild Side series is an urban fantasy trilogy which follows the adventures of Ashley Keenan who is trying very hard to be a normal boring human accountant but all the pesky werewolves and vampires in her world make that difficult. The first two books THE WOLF WITHIN and THE DARK SIDE are available at all good ebook retailers. Likewise, THE DAY YOU WENT AWAY is a free short story prequel that you can find at all the usual ebook sellers plus on Wattpad.  I am hoping to write the final book, BRING ON THE NIGHT, next year in between my contracted books.

The New York Saints series is a contemporary romance series about three guys who buy the New York Saints (the worst team in MLB) and the women who complicate the process. As mentioned above, THE DEVIL IN DENIM and ANGEL IN ARMANI, and LAWLESS IN LEATHER, are all out and I’m currently writing PLAYING FAST (which is the fifth book after PLAYING HARD which will be out February next year). The Devil in Denim, Angel in Armani and Lawless in Leather are also available in audiobook at Audible for US folks. The first three books will also be coming out in Germany starting mid April 2016 as far as I know.

What are you working on?

The last two year’s writing schedules were  a bit nutty. Which meant, naturally, that life decided to sideswipe me with other stuff.  Including a four month or so bout of benign paroxysmal positional vertigo which was very unpleasant. But I caught up eventually and continue to WRITE ALL THE THINGS and DO ALL THE OTHER STUFF I LIKE.

I’m currently writing THE FORBIDDEN HEIR and have just finished writing PLAYING FAST. Everything else under consideration currently falls under the heading of sekrit squirrel business which can’t be discussed publicly. But I still haven’t received either my clone army or my allocation of minions so while there are plenty of books in the pipeline, the order of said books will depend on time and brain space. If you want to be updated about things as they happen, sign up for my newsletters. M.J here and Melanie here.

Tell me more…

Places I hang out include here on the blog (but hey, you knew that already). I love me some twitter and @melscott will find me there. I tend to be most active on twitter but you know, internet procrastination for the win, so I hang out elsewhere.

M.J’s facebook page is www.facebook.com/AuthorMJScott and Melanie’s is www.facebook.com/WriterMelanieScott. If you’re into Google+ I’m here. I get my fix of pretty things, recipes, geekiness and ideas for stuff on Pinterest where I’m mel_writes. If you want to keep up with the blog you can subscribe in a blog reader with the RSS feed via the button on the top of the page (or directly in Bloglovin if you’re a Bloglovin user using the button in the sidebar).

I like to take pictures, so if you like looking at pictures, my Instagram handle is melwrites. I also post various pics on Facebook and Twitter. I take most of my pictures with an iPhone 6 (previously a 5) and also break out my Canon DSLR. I also dabble a bit with art (mostly watercolour) and pictures of what I’m dabbling with get posted in the same places.

And that about wraps it up for me. Until next time…if you have any questions, find me at one of the places above or drop me an email via either of my websites.

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Sunday snippet

This week a snippet from Iron Kin, book 3 of the Half-Light City series. Ah, Fen.

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Sunday snippet

Another month gone by and the holiday craziness is underway. Make sure you take some time out to relax. May I suggest a good book? :D. To tempt you, a snippet from Angel in Armani. Book 2 in The New York Saints series.

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Sunday snippet

It’s back to Urban Fantasy time. This week a snippet from The Wolf Within (Book 1 in the Wild Side series).

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The Forbidden Heir blurb (and winners!)

I’m working away on The Forbidden Heir. Somewhat slowly due to life craziness but we will get their. I do have a blurb to share, so yay!

She fled to save her life, but surviving what comes next might destroy everything she believes in…

The royal witches of Anglion have always been bound to serve their country. But Lady Sophia Mackenzie, whose unbound magic and near claim to the crown, has made her a target, was forced to flee Anglion, leaving behind a dead assassin and shattered loyalties. Now she finds herself in Illvya, where the magic is everything she’s been taught to fear and the only person she can trust is her new husband, Cameron.

Sophia and Cameron must navigate a strange world of illicit temptations, dangerous threats and political intrigue, where as a royal witch Sophia is both prized and reviled.

As she begins to master her powers, the factions seeking to control Sophia close in, and her magical and emotional bonds with Cameron are pushed to the limit. To survive long enough to claim the future she seeks, she may have to choose between love and loyalty, and hope the price of her choice is one she can bear.

So there, a little taste of what’s to come. Also, I’ve mailed all the winners of my ARC giveaways and FB giveaway for the cookbook, so check your mail if you entered! And now back to writing for me, so I leave you with a picture of the fuzzy girl doing what cats do best.

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Monday music fix: Sanvean

Was browsing soundtrack songs and came across this. An oldie but a goodie. Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance singing Sanvean. Amazing voice.

 

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Sunday snippet

Following up from last week, this week’s snippet is from Blood Kin, Book 2 of the Half-Light City series.

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Friday favourites – fountain pens

It’s Friday, it’s been one of those weeks and my brain is kind of fried. So even though I was going to talk about something story related, you probably don’t need a rambling, guaranteed to make zero sense post, so let us instead talk about something easier. That takes us to a happy place.

Like fountain pens. Which I am a fan of. Because writing with one is nicer and there are a gajillion coloured inks to choose from which is pleasing (plus you get colour and line variation, also pleasing), not to mention a gajillion kinds of fountain pen to covet. Here are some of my faves.

From left to right (or bottom to top maybe, I don’t know, my brain is fried like a said):

Karas Kustoms Ink in black and copper (aka the steampunk pen). This is the most expensive pen I currently own. It’s also the heaviest pen I currently own (because it’s made out of an aluminium block with a copper section). So not for writing for hours with but it is lovely to write with, super sturdy and always seems to start easily. One day I’ll get one of their all aluminium ones as well. When the USD exchange rate stops making me cry. Fine nib. I like fine nibs.

Kaweco Ice Sport in blue (because it’s me). This is a great little pen. With the cap on, it’s teeny to carry around, it has so far (cross fingers) never leaked on me on an airplane, it’s light and very nice to write with. I tend to keep this one in my crumpler bag and tote it around with me and use it at the day job etc. I have one of these in solid pink as well. Because, well, who doesn’t need a cute tiny pink fountain pen?

Pilot Metropolitan Retro Pop in turquoise (because turquoise and dots and well, that makes me happy). My most recent acquisition. Pilot metropolitans are cheap (well, in the US they are cheap aka $15-20, here I’ve seen them for $35 ish or up to $60. Don’t pay $60, even with crappy exchange rate and postage, US is likely to be cheaper). They usually come in black, silver or gold (maybe there is a dark purple and a white?) and I have a silver one that I use for sketching (Fine nib which is more like extra fine compared to my others) but I couldn’t resist the turquoise. The Retro Pop are a special edition with lots of pretty colours but turquoise had to be mine.

Lamy Safari in blue. A Lamy Safari is the first fountain pen I bought myself. Because they’re not expensive (the store I’ve linked to is the cheapest I’ve found in Aus, I think), the nibs are swappable, they are easy to find here in Oz and I didn’t know if I was going to like using a fountain pen. I think I had a Parker fountain pen once before this that I got as a pressie but it tended to leak and I didn’t know anything about them so didn’t know how to fix it. But this Safari was the pen I bought when I decided to try again. It might even be this actual pen (I have two blue ones because at some point the gremlins in my house hid one and I had to buy another and then, of course, the original showed up). These are very comfortable, light, write very nicely and come in pretty colours. I own four. Um, no, I lie, I own five because I bought a backup in the limited edition coral colour from last year or the year before because I love the colour and the coral one is the one I use in my sketching kit so it’s quite likely I’ll lose it at some point. So two blue, a pink and two coral. I use the fine nib for writing and extra fine for sketching. I talked about sketching pens over here. Pro tip, if you want to buy a replacement nib or different nib to try, head to ebay (or the guys I linked to). For some reason most Aussie retailers want to charge you $30 for a new nib that costs like $7 US or something. Cray cray.

The other pens I regularly use and like are a Lamy Joy (see the sketching pens post) and the Pilot Petit1 (not pictured because I keep all mine at the day job…they’re cheerful and nice to write with but pretty cheap so I won’t cry if they go walkabout. And they are refillable. They’re also tiny, though comfy when the cap is posted (well, if you’re a guy with big hands, they’re probably too small for you but I don’t have small hands and I write happily with them). I get them from JetPens but am guessing eBay would also yield some. I’ve gotten the refills from eBay. My fave colour is the Clear Blue. Because it’s really more aqua/turquoise…are you sensing a theme. But I have a green and a purple (I think) as well.

Sadly, the pens I want to try next are starting to get more expensive. I need the exchange rate to improve or to have something to celebrate. But hey, it’s good to have goals.

 

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The Shattered Court audiobook is out

Today’s exciting because The Shattered Court is now out in audiobook!

You can find it at Audible or the CD at Amazon or via the Tantor Audio site. So go forth and listen! I find it hard to listen to my own books in audiobook but I am a big fan of them, so am very happy that Sophie and Cameron are out audio. Hope you enjoy them!

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