Isabel Cooper's Blog, page 16

Distractions, Free and Cheap

So…that happened.

Not going to discuss it at length on author blog: most people who’ve read my novels have a pretty decent idea of what my views are, I’d imagine.

If you want to think about something else for a bit, and most of us could use a break–even activists have bus trips to read on–Gambled Away is on sale for 99 cents.(https://www.amazon.com/Gambled-Away-Historical-Romance-Anthology-ebook/dp/B01FCYQ3V8).

I also plan to make my YA novel, Hickey of the Beast, available free as soon as I can figure out how to do that on Amazon, from now through roughly the next year. Meanwhile, if you’d like a non-Amazon copy, email me and I’ll send you the files.

This is indeed a sales pitch, but also: whatever you’re doing, take some time for yourself. Nothing’s going to happen all at once, and pacing ourselves is important. Pet a dog, hang out with a loved one, put your feet up and get some baked goods and read a good book. If it’s one of mine, so much the better, but mostly–take care of yourselves, people.

Release Day!

Gambled Away is now out! http://amzn.to/1Rot773

I’m over on Literary Escapism today, discussing crossover genres and snowcones. http://www.literaryescapism.com/48804...

Yay!

 

 

 

More Wordswag

This one from my story, “Raising the Stakes.”

 

Wordswag

So Gambled Away is coming out on the 31st! Molly O’Keefe, my awesome co-author, has put together Wordswag images, and I’ll be posting one every day/couple days for a while: lines from one of the stories, coupled with cool graphics. Here’s the first!

 

New Book

It’s been a while, there’s a lot going on, etc.[image error] But I still live, and I’ve gotten to put out an anthology with some amazing authors!

Check it out:

http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2016/04/cover-tuesday-gambled-away-a-historical-romance-anthology

Good News; Pet Peeves

I’m a complicated woman.

First, the good news: I’m currently in the last stages of the first draft for the first Highland Dragons novel in the second trilogy. And if that parsed weirdly: Medieval Highland Dragons, coming Sometime Next Year!

And now, a couple things that have irked me in otherwise good reading material lately.

Wolves don’t work that way.

That whole “pack alpha, dominant male” thing that keeps appearing in urban fantasy/paranormal romance/books about dog training? Based on an inaccurate 1981 book about wolves in zoos. (http://io9.com/why-everything-you-know-about-wolf-packs-is-wrong-502754629). Actual wolves? It’s more of an extended-family thing, without the extreme gender-based split.

Now, if you want to write a book about a bossy asshole who can’t help it because of instincts or whatever, that’s…fine, in a YKIOK way…but the Bossy Asshole Because Wolves and Alpha, no.

If you want an animal with serious hierarchical structures, dominant males, and submissive females, *chimpanzees* might be your best bet. Except nobody really wants to read “In the Arms of the Shitflinging Faceeater,” for some reason.

2. Profanity doesn’t work that way.

It’s great that one of your main characters belongs to an alternative religion. Major props. No, really. And it’s great that this non-dominant religion shows up in their thoughts and actions.

However: if the character spends most of their time in mainstream society, they’re going to swear, especially in moments of stress, like everyone else does.

I’m pagan. My friends include a Jewish person, an atheist, and a Christian. (Among other things and in varying quantities, but, you know, examples.) If you dropped a brick on each of our feet, the Christian’s response would be the *least* likely to include some variant of Jesus fucking Christ! or God damn it! . Even if the rest of us don’t swear from specifically Judeo-Christian terms, we’re not likely to invoke our actual beliefs–not because I, at least, think my gods will be offended, but because those aren’t the terms I grew up using, or hearing other people use, and you swear without thinking.

I don’t believe in Hell, but if you change lanes without a turn signal, I will tell you to go there.

Now, this is different for characters who don’t grow up in the dominant culture, of course, if your world works that way–I could see, say, a first-generation immigrant still using their own culture’s profanity even if they’re otherwise fully integrated–but if your character is, say, a pagan in the 1990s and goes around saying things like “Goddess!” when she’s stressed?

The only realistic assumption is that she’s *pretentious as fuck*. If you want to give that impression, that’s one thing, but maybe consider that.

3. Sex…works a lot of ways.

So your characters are hanging out after the apocalypse, or have gone back in time, or are on another planet with few resources, and a heterosexual pair finds each other hot. It’s realistic for birth control to be a concern, and likewise realistic for that to limit certain very specific forms of activity.

I wish I didn’t have to be the one to tell you this, Fantasy Writers Who Know Who They Are, but…that’s not the only thing you can do. Furthermore, young people have been figuring out those, er, “loopholes”, for centuries–the person who told me about a maneuver called “the Catholic schoolgirl’s best friend” was not of my generation–those things are also perfectly valid forms of sex, and modern teenagers will have heard about them. No, really. No, *really*, I hate to disillusion you, but the world contains the Internet and Cosmo and people who have read both.

And as with all things I can buy exceptions for people raised in historical eras, or Carrie’s mom, and if you don’t get explicit I can buy that they really just want that particular act, sure, I’ve been young, but when you talk about modern characters who “can’t do more than kiss” or “have to keep their pants on” because of pregnancy?

Oh, honey. I want to send everyone in your publishing house a sympathy card and a copy of “Our Bodies, Ourselves.”

Blog Tour

http://www.whatisthatbookabout.com/author-spotlight/2015/5/18/isabel-cooper-shares-which-character-she-relates-to-the-most

and

http://reading-romances.com/exclusive-interview-with-isabel-cooper-giveaway/

Enjoy!

Blog Tour Soon; Discounts Now

So, yeah! Been immersed in writing, moving, and so forth. But! I have a new book coming out June 1st, Night of the Highland Dragon, and a blog tour before that, so this blog will once again come to life.

Meanwhile, a few notes:

Goodreads is giving away copies of Night of the Highland Dragon. You can find info here! https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/139791

Meanwhile, Legend of the Highland Dragon is going for .99 on Kobo.

Enjoy!

Post!

Today I’m at Fresh Fiction, discussing the joys of wandering around in the middle of the night. I also want to take a nap under my desk, but that’s pretty much a given, and not directly related.

http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=6512

Announcements! Links! I Live!

I may hunger, as per Cynstar.

More to the point: The Highland Dragon’s Lady, second in the Highland Dragons series, comes out today! You can find it on Amazon.com, the Sourcebooks website, and many places that fine books are sold, as NPR used to say in my childhood.

Sourcebooks has set up an awesome blog tour for me, and I’ll be posting more links to that in the next couple days. Meanwhile, here are some of the places where I’ve already rambled about various things:

The Book Nerd: Colin MacAlasdair’s tips for ghost-hunting: http://booknerdloleotodo.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-highland-dragons-lady-series.html#gpluscomments

The Blogger Girls: Why Dragons and Highlanders?:http://thebloggergirls.com/2014/11/25/honorary-blogger-isabel-cooper-dragons-and-highlanders-a-match-made-in-heaven/

All Things Urban Fantasy: Things Reggie Discovered With Her Powers: http://allthingsuf.com/2014/11/guest-blog-isabel-cooper.html

Romancing the Darkside: What Shapeshifter Would You Be?: http://romancingthedarkside.com/2014/12/guest-post-with-isabel-cooper-author-of-the-highland-dragons-lady-giveaway.html

Casablanca Authors’ Blog: Guest Post: http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/2014/12/new-release-highland-dragons-lady-by.html

Literary Escapism: Black Friday: http://www.literaryescapism.com/45162/black-friday-a-new-experience-for-reggie-by-isabel-cooper/comment-page-1#comment-153866

As I said–more to come! And hopefully more rambly  blog entries, once winter hits and I start watching bad films on Netflix.