M.J. Scott's Blog, page 12

Sunday snippet

Time for a snippet from The Devil in Denim (Book 1 in the New York Saints series).

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Pens and inks for watercolours

For something different, some art supply geeking. For most of my watercolours I use some pen for line work, either drawing the lines before the paint or using them afterwards to add definition. Because I want the lines to stay put, the inks I default to are waterproof inks. I use fountain pens and fine liners. In the fountain pens I use DeAtramentis Document inks (Black, Fog Grey which is more a deep blue with some grey and Brown…though it’s a tad warm for me, so I need to experiment with mixing a cooler brown). Though these inks are waterproof you still need to wait for them to dry (not long) before adding paint (or for the paint to be dry if adding lines afterwards). The laws of physics establish that if you add wet paint to wet or damp ink you’re going to get some blurring. Some people do ink and wash where they use non waterproof inks and wash it out with water to add the colour and shading to their drawing but I haven’t played around with it much.

Here’s a pic of my current pens in my sketching pencil case

Left to right:

Lamy Safari (EF nib). This is probably my favourite pen. Lamy’s are cheap, tough and have nice nibs that are swappable so you can use different widths etc. I own several Lamy’s in different colours (I use an F usually for writing). Pro tip, it’s cheaper to buy Lamy nibs online from overseas usually than from Aussie retailers. The pens themselves I’ve seen from $30-49 Aussie from Aussie retailers so shop around. I use the stainless steel Lamy nibs, one day I might lash out for a gold one.

Lamy Joy (EF nib). The Joy is sold as a calligraphy pen with some calligraphy nibs but the nibs are compatible with the normal writing nibs. It’s longer than the Safari so has a different balance and is still nice to write with. I bought this to experiment with calligraphy but it mostly sits in my sketching pencil case with a different colour ink and a writing nib).

Pilot Metropolitan (F nib – Pilot is a Japanese brand and Japanese nibs run finer than German nibs. Lamy is a German brand) – this is another nice solid beginner fountain pen that writes really nicely. In the US they’re about $15-20 dollars. Here they seem to be about $60 Aussie. I bought mine online from the US before the exchange rate tanked. These days you’d need to do the math to work out if it’s any cheaper. I usually have Fog Grey in this one.

Sharpie Pen in Fine. Found at Officeworks for Aussies and I’m assuming Staples etc for US folks, I’ve never had an issue with it bleeding as long as you stick to the let it dry rule and I find the nib is tougher than some of the other fineliners which seem to wear out faster if working over paint.

Faber Castell Pitt fineliner in Fine. Found in art/stationery shops (maybe Officeworks/Staples). I also use the Sakura Micron .05 but prefer the Pitt I think (mostly for nib longevity again).

The next pen I’d like to add to the collection is one with a more flexible nib (for more line variation). The cheapest options for a modern flexible nib in a fountain pen are the Noodler’s pens (overall cheapest option for flexible nibs are dip pen nibs but that’s not practical for out and about sketching for me, I’m not going to carry a bottle of ink around). I have a couple of the Noodler’s flexible nib pens (A Creaper and an Ahab from memory) but find them temperamental (though lots of people don’t). Need to keep playing with them. After that a flex pen is going to be at least $140ish US, so need to save the pennies.

 

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The Martian

So on Friday I went to see The Martian.

I was really looking forward to the movie because I loved the book. Plus Matt Damon. The book is on the harder side of SF and sometimes for me, all the endless explanations of every single detail of the science (or the weapons in thrillers/military) in hard SF come at the expense of emotion and action and get a bit mansplain-y. But in this case, using the conceit that Mark Watney is keeping a record of what he’s doing and the fact that Andy Weir has made Mark very engaging, it worked. I actually started listening to The Martian on audiobook and had to stop and buy the e-book as I couldn’t wait as long as it would take to listen to the audiobook to know what was going to happen. I’ve since gone back and listened to the audiobook again and I re-read the book last week before I saw the movie. So yes, I liked the book a lot.

Which also makes it somewhat daunting to go see the movie. So many movies ruin the books. The trailer looked promising but it’s hard to tell what’s really going to happen from a trailer.

But it turns out, the movie was pretty good. I thought it kept the spirit of the film pretty well and Matt was very well cast. I was a bit disappointed that it skimmed over a couple of the big complications that happen at the end of the book (could have shortened bits of the NASA stuff I think to get those in) and lightened up the science a bit in spots (mostly because this kind of lessened the impact of his achievement in solving each problem that came up) but I still really enjoyed it and was feeling nervous at the end (which is a good sign when you know the ending). And the imagery of Mars was gorgeous. I’m never going into space but seeing another planet would definitely be cool. Not so much being stranded on one alone! So all in all, two thumbs up to the movie but the book is still better. Possibly not a surprising verdict from a writer.

PS Very funny facebook meme pointed out that the US spends a lot of time and money in films rescuing Matt Damon…he’s made it into a genre lol (Saving Private Ryan, Interstellar and now The Martian).

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State of the Mel #7

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 …

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 ready to go see Sleeping Beauty at the ballet a few weekends ago (time keeps zooming by alarmingly quickly.)

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 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 if AFL 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 Spring here. Yay. Spring is my favourite time of year. 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.  I am team Iron Man, team Buffy, team Thor, team Ollicity, team Baymax, team genre, team animation, team Outlander, team Winchester, 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. 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 early 2016 but I don’t have final dates yet.

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

Let’s have a snippet from Shadow Kin (Book 1 in the Half-light City series).

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Story fix – the Pennyroyal Green series

So earlier this week, The Legend of Lyon Redmond aka book 11 in the Pennyroyal Green series by Julie Anne Long came out.

This series has been one of my faves since I read the first book (The Perils of Pleasure) quite some time ago. TPOP features Colin Eversea who is one of my fave romance heroes. The basic of premise of Pennyroyal Green is that there are two wealthy families in the town (village), the Everseas and the Redmonds. The Everseas are more scandalous but both have their share of adventure. The two families do not get along mostly due to the fact that the current heads of both families were in love with the same woman way back when and she married the Eversea rather than the Redmond. It’s a big sprawling series (extra long for a historical series) which covers all the various Eversea and Redmond offspring other than Olivia Eversea and Lyon Redmond. Because Lyon Redmond vanished five years ago and broke Olivia’s heart in the process. So your basic star crossed lovers. So the mystery of where is Lyon and what is Olivia going to do has been the overall series element. So no pressure at all (not) after ten books of establishing this story to finally deliver on the story of Lyon and Olivia.

Julia Anne Long writes beautiful prose. Just the sort of gorgeous luscious stuff that is made for historicals. (Though I believe her next series in contemporary so colour me intrigued). She also is a good touch with the humour to lighten all the lovely emotion. Basically Mel catnip when it comes to historicals. So I really wanted this to be a great book. And all I can say is, if you’re a fan of the series or maybe even if you’re not (though you may find the cast of characters a little confusing if not) then just go out and buy it and read it. Love. Feels. All that. Many thumbs up. I might have to go back and re-read the whole series so I can savor it all over again

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An unexpected evening

Last week, Dymocks Melbourne put an invite out on their FB page for an event with Rob Wilkins. Rob Wilkins was Terry Pratchett’s long time assistant and good friend so naturally I was interested in going along. This is Rob.

So tonight I toddled off and listened to a very nice guy talk about his very good friend and losing his very good things and some other things he asked not be shared online. He talked about what comes next (no one will be writing new Discworld books or completing unfinished works) but there continues to be work on TV projects and some of the Discworld background material like the maps and other books. For a guy who probably never expected to be getting up in front of groups of people and talking about this kind of thing (and a guy who lost a good friend not that long ago), he’s a great speaker and was very entertaining. And it was nice to be with a group of people (including Rob) who loved Terry’s books and mourn both the man and the books we will never get. Rob was in Australia because it’s just been announced that Terry left a bequest to endow a scholarship at University of South Australia (read more here) so yay for Terry and yay for Rob for making a side trip to Melbourne and so kindly sharing some of his friend with all of us.

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Rap and American political history = awesome

For something different in the Monday music fix arena…an actual musical. While I was in New York, I was sharing a room for a few nights with my friend, Barbara. She went off one night to see a musical I’d never heard of called Hamilton (written by Lin-Manuel Miranda). Hamilton is the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of the US founding fathers. Only told in rap amongst other musical styles and with a cast that’s almost entirely POC. Barbara came back raving about it, which spiked my curiosity but at that point it was sold out for months already so there was no way I was going to get a ticket.

So I was very happy when somewhere I stumbled across the link to an NPR first listen for the cast recording last week (maybe on Tumblr, somewhere on the world wide interwebs). Barbara was right to rave, it’s a great musical. I don’t think I’ve liked a musical as instantly since Rent. The cast recording album came out on Thursday and needless to say I now own it and have been listening to it a lot. The music is great with very clever lyrics and music. The story is also fascinating (and I say this as someone who is overall, not that interesting in politics and doesn’t know a heap about American political history being an Aussie.). Well worth a listen. Not sure how long the NPR thing will stay up but hopefully for a while.

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Sunday snippet

This week’s snippet is from The Devil in Denim (Book 1 in The New York Saints series).

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Finito

Yay, Playing Fast is done and safely on my editor’s desk.

Which leaves me with mushy post book brain. So I’m noodling around putting together a soundtrack for the sequel to The Shattered Court (which is called, at this stage, The Forbidden Heir), reacquainting myself with that world and watching whatever TV the muse desires. Which is so far Rizzoli and Isles, Nashville and Tom Cruise being killed many times in Edge of Tomorrow. No idea why those three but let’s not argue. And that’s about all the news I have for now, more when the brain is rebooted.

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