Meradeth Houston's Blog, page 82

After Reading: Embrace

by Jessica Shirvington


It starts with a whisper: “It’s time for you to know who you are…”

Violet Eden dreads her seventeenth birthday. After all, it’s hard to get too excited about the day that marks the anniversary of your mother’s death. As if that wasn’t enough, disturbing dreams haunt her sleep and leave her with very real injuries. There’s a dark tattoo weaving its way up her arms that wasn’t there before. 

Violet is determined to get some answers, but nothing could have prepared her for the truth. The guy she thought she could fall in love with has been keeping his identity a secret: he’s only half-human—oh, and same goes for her.

A centuries-old battle between fallen angels and the protectors of humanity has chosen its new warrior. It’s a fight Violet doesn’t want, but she lives her life by two rules: don’t run and don’t quit. When angels seek vengeance and humans are the warriors, you could do a lot worse than betting on Violet Eden…

Alright, I'll admit it, the absolute best part about this book? Totally Lincoln. I kind of want to just move into his house and be all "hey, man, you can train me!" Because I think that would be cool. So, yeah, this was a fun read, and I am probably going to have to go purchase ENTICE this afternoon so I can keep reading. I'm a major sucker for angel books (gee, I wonder why?) and I decidedly liked the spin on this one. Looking forward to seeing more of the characters in the next couple of books and getting to know the world a little better!

Have you read Embrace? What did you think?

COVER REVEAL for Concilium: The Departure by Michelle K. Pickett

One of my fellow Muse writers, and all around awesome writing buddies, has her second book coming out shortly and I'm super stoked to get to share in revealing her cover! It's it pretty!?!


And doesn't it sound freaking awesome:
Her nightmare is back.  Evil.  It’s alive, and it’s back for her.
Six months ago Leslee’s life was turned upside down when she was hunted by the Cruor Imbibo.  Now, they’re back and no one knows why.  But it’s clear – they’re out for blood.
Working for the Concilium, Miller was assigned to protect Leslee the first time the Imbibo entered her life. He saved her life and stole her heart.  But when the Imbibo left, so did Miller, ripping apart Leslee's dream of a happily-ever-after.  Now Miller’s back to protect Leslee and rekindle their romance.  But she makes it clear, she wants no part of him or his romantic gestures.
Thrown together despite their tense and sometimes hostile relationship, Leslee and Miller fight to uncover the reason the Imbibo have returned and end their killing spree.  Because if they fail, Leslee is next on the Imbibo’s hit list.
Stay out of the dark.
The Imbibo are back.
Title: Concilium: The Departure (Concilium Series #2)Author: Michelle K. PickettPublisher: MuseItUp Publishing (http://museituppublishing.com) Cover: Lex Valentine of Winterheart DesignRelease Date: November 2012Format: e-book

Science Sundays: sexual selection

Welcome back to Science Sundays! I thought we'd delve a little into the interesting and complex world that is sexual selection (it's a crazy world, and one that is always sure to get my student's attention!). So how can this fit into your writing? Well, it influences the natural world quite a bit, and there has been some suggestion that humans, especially when it comes to ornamentation, also have sexual selection at play. Maybe with some of the underlying concepts you can give me some ideas!

Okay, here's what sexual selection actually is: it's a form of natural selection where the reproductive success of one sex is more variable than the other, and therefore there are selective forces that create adaptations that allow for more matings (and not necessarily just survival). In plain natural selection, adaptations are all about reproductive success--passing along genes and surviving to be able to do so. Same goes for sexual selection, but some of the adaptations that arise don't always make an individual the best suited for their environment.

Examples: take the giant antlers on the deer that are roaming around in my backyard (I think hunting season's begun and they're hiding here), those antlers take a HUGE amount of energy to produce, maintain, and don't make it any easier for a deer to run fast through the woods. They'd be better off without them. BUT, they do attract the lady deer, and allow for fighting off other males who want to mate with it's ladies. The same kind of thing goes for the huge size of male walrus--they are so big they can hardly move on the ground, but they can certainly fight off other males from sneaking in and mating with their women. Fun right?

Now there are two general areas where sexual selection comes into play, the first is intra-sexual selection. This is where males (due to the fact that their reproductive success is more variable than females) fight with one another to get mates. Both of the above examples are intra-sexual (between males) selection at work. The male with the biggest antlers/size and best fighting ability will get the most mates (usually--there are exceptions of sneaky males :).

The other type is inter-sexual selection. This is where the reproductive success of one sex is determined by the pickiness of the other sex. This one's my favorite, because this is where you get some of the most crazy strange traits showing up. Personal favorite? The giant NOSES on the proboscus monkey--who think's that's sexy?? Well, apparently the female monkeys. Biggest nose = more mates. Fun times! This kind of selection is really common in birds especially, which results in all kinds of awesome feather colors (think peacocks), strange mating dances, calls, etc. etc.

What about humans? Well, not all mates are created equal. (I think that's pretty obvious, yeah?) So members of both sexes will try to attract the highest "quality" mate, depending on what they think that is. So we see all kinds of random use of ornamentation--flashy cars, expressions of wealth, showing of "assets." Can you think of anything else? :)



So, how might sexual selection play into a story? Can anyone think of anything?

After Reading: Soul Thief

by Jana Oliver

Riley Blackthorne is beginning to learn that there are worse things than death by demon. And love is just one of them…

Seventeen-year-old Riley has about had it up to here. After the devastating battle at the Tabernacle, trappers are dead and injured, her boyfriend Simon is gravely injured, and now her beloved late father’s been illegally poached from his grave by a very powerful necromancer. As if that’s not enough, there's Ori, one sizzling hot freelance demon hunter who’s made himself Riley’s unofficial body guard, and Beck, a super over-protective “friend” who acts more like a grouchy granddad.  With all the hassles, Riley’s almost ready to leave Atlanta altogether.

But as Atlanta’s demon count increases, the Vatican finally sends its own Demon Hunters to take care of the city’s “little” problem, and pandemonium breaks loose. Only Riley knows that she might be the center of Hell’s attention: an extremely powerful Grade 5 demon is stalking her, and her luck can't last forever…

So this is the second book in the series, and it picks up right where The Demon Trapper's Daughter left off. Reading them both back to back was nice, as I had all the myriad of characters in mind, and could just enjoy the story. As in the first book, the world building here was great. Such amazing attention to detail, with lots of little side notes that really made everything come alive. Loved that! In some respects, though, I really found myself wondering what is going on with Riley--she's in some ways much older than 17, and yet again, not. Seriously, I kind of found myself wondering if these books had been written as an adult series that was then converted to YA, like the YA bits (school, etc) were just added in. Not that I particularly mind an older YA, but still, in places it comes across as a little strange. Anyhoo, this is a fun series, and I'll have to try and pick up the final book somewhere's!

Anyone read the last book? Worth it?

Thankful Thursdays: the usually forgotten items

Today, I'm in some serious need of remembering what I'm thankful for. Some days are just like that, ya know? And since going back to bed isn't much of an option, here goes :)

My job. I have two close friends on the verge of losing theirs due to plants closing, losing funding, all that kind of junk. I'm grateful to be employed today with a job I actually like.That writing last night was one of those magical writing times where the words just come and the scene takes over the real world for a while. Love it when that happens!My health. I don't think I'm grateful enough for this, and I should be.For the roof over my head, the fact that I have food in my fridge, and all that other stuff that I know I really should be more grateful for :)Okay, and here's an awesome series of picks that I came across this morning and had to share:
[image error] Source: aperfectcommotion.tumblr.com via Beth on Pinterest
Cool, right? So tell me, what are you grateful for this Thursday?

Commenting Conundrum

So, I've had IntenseDebate installed on my blog for a while now--according to their stats, just over a year. I've liked several of their features quite a bit:

-The ability to respond to comments via email.
-The nested exchanges of responses.
-The lack of spam comments.

However, there are a few things I've found seriously annoying:

-The extra sign-in for most people to comment.
-The lack of "comment here" on my main blog entries--you have to click through to the article.
-The lack of flexibility to turn off commenting when I want/need.
-The fact that it doesn't always show up on some browsers, or work whatsoever.

I've been seriously tempted to just shut it off, but there's one main thing that's been holding me back: doing so erases ALL of my comments. SO not cool. I do have the comments still--they're saved in my account online, and in my inbox. But still, it'll look like no one's commented on my blog for the past year. Yeah, that's just awesome. But, I'm afraid the time has come to make my blog a little more user friendly, and get rid of the random commenting add-on. Even if it means losing the earlier comments (there are 700+ of them, yikes!). So, if you see some changes on my blog, you'll know what's up. And hopefully it works! And I do have my old comments, and cherish them, so please don't think I'm all willy-nilly deleting them!

The reason this warrants a blog post is I'm wondering if anyone's done this before out there? Had the same issues? I'd love to hear about it, and would love suggestions or comments :)

Colors Like Memories is 30% off today :)

I thought I'd pass along that my publisher, MuseItUp Publishing, is having a little back-to-school promotion that ends tomorrow. COLORS LIKE MEMORIES is 30%, and can be found here. There are lots of other awesome YA and MG ebooks up for cheap, too, if you're looking for something to read!

And tomorrow I'll be back with more regular programming!

UNCONTROLLABLE by SR Johannes available starting today!

Yay! Uncontrollable is out today!

Uncontrollable is the second book in "The Nature of Grace" series by S.R. Johannes. Untraceable, the first book in the series, has won and been nominated for several awards including Winner of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Award (YA), 2012 Georgia Author of the Year (YA Nominee), and a finalist in The Kindle Book Review's "Best Indie Book of 2012 (YA)".

Kirkus reviewed Untraceable as "A thrilling story is a dramatic entanglement of mystery, deception and teen romance.  The action flows like a brisk mountain stream interspersed with rapids, holding suspense to last page."

If you like a page turner, you will love this series!

Head over to Mundie Moms for a Big Uncontrollable Launch Party with tons of prizes and then over to SR Johannes blog for even more.

To continue on with the blog tour, check out the line up! Where SR talks about anything from marketing to writing to her books to personal interviews and giveaways.

Book Summary

As 16-year-old Grace recovers from tragedy, her science class is chosen by Agent Sweeney at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to help with research on the new "Red Wolf Reintroduction Program". 

While she’s excited about helping with the conservation of the endangered wolves, Grace knows this means being outdoors in the worst winter recorded, in a place she no longer feels comfortable. It also means working closely with Wyn (her ex) and his annoying girlfriend (Skyler), a girl whose idea of getting close to nature is picking silk plants and growing fake plants. 

After a couple of wolves show up dead, Grace almost quits. However, when a fellow project team member goes missing, Grace continues the assignment under a renewed suspicion that someone might be sabotaging the conservation program. She quietly begins to hunt for clues. 

Little does she know, she is being hunted too. 

On Sale Now! 

Uncontrollable is on sale in paperback and ebook at all major  booksellers including Amazon, iBooks/Apple (coming soon), Smashwords, and B&N.

If you haven't read Untraceable, you can get it in paperback and ebook at all major booksellers including Amazon, Apple, Smashwords, and B&N.

Author Bio

S.R. Johannes is the author of award-winning and Amazon bestselling Untraceable (a teen wilderness thriller) and new tween paranormal, On The Bright Side. She has also published short novelettes as well as a teen romance anthology with 16 other authors titled, In His Eyes. Uncontrollable, the sequel to Untraceable, is scheduled for September 2012.

S.R. Johannes is a winner of the 2012 IndieReader Discovery Awards (Young Adult) and was also recently nominated for 2012 Georgia Author of the Year (Young Adult). Untraceable was also recently named a Finalist in The Kindle Book Review's Indie Book of the Year (YA)

After earning an MBA and working in corporate America, S.R. Johannes traded in her expensive suits, high heels, and corporate lingo for a family, flip-flops, and her love of writing.  She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her dog, British-accented husband, and the huge imaginations of their little prince and princess, which she hopes- someday- will change the world.

Connect!

Follow S.R. online on her website, Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest

You can also sign up for her newsletter to keep up on author or book news.

Science Sundays: Dishing on Genetic Drift

Welcome back to Science Sundays :) Today I thought I'd hit on another genetic concept that I've been hitting home with my students all week (well, at least attempting to). Genetic Drift: sounds cool, right? It is a powerful force, and would have a big effect if, say you had a new population being founded, or lost a huge chunk of a population.

That new population that was founded on Mars or the moon? They might have some issues with genetic drift.

So, what's genetic drift? Well, at its most basic, it's sampling error. Where you have a sample of something that isn't totally representative of the underlying diversity. Take flipping a coin: if you do it twice, you may get two heads, so you're not sampling the tails side of the coin. Say you flip it ten times and you get seven heads and three tails: you're not seeing the true 50/50 variability that exists in the coin's nature. (Okay, I know that's a random example, but it works :)

This skew from the actual total variability and range in a population in each sample that's taken can work from generation to generation. Just by chance (sampling error) not all the variability that exists in a population may get passed down from one generation to the next. Say someone with a unique gene variant (allele) doesn't have children, or doesn't pass along that specific allele: well, then it's lost. Over time, just through random chance, genetic drift works to get rid of variability in a population. A population will eventually hit what is known as fixation, where they've lost all the variability for a gene. It's crazy how this happens, but drift is one of those forces that is totally random and therefore super powerful.

Okay, so the true interesting stuff that happens is when genetic drift principles are applied to founding a new population. This is where Founders Effect comes into play. Simply, it's where a new population in formed and brings with it a random sample of the variability in the parent population. What usually happens is that variability is lost this way, as the migrants take less variation with them as they pick up and leave.

It's also possible to get a strange concentration of certain genes that may have been really rare in the parent population (take schizophrenia in the Hutterite populations--it's at like 1/43 people are affected, which is insanely high compared to regular populations, all because the 101 couples that founded the population had a randomly higher concentration of alleles for the ailment). It works on a larger scale, too: like the peopling of the New World with Native Americans: they have almost all blood type O, having randomly sampled only that blood group when they split off.

The other effect of genetic drift is a genetic bottleneck. When a population event occurs and leads to a large part of the population being lost, random variation can be lost. The difference here is that this happens within one population, not by founding another one. So, say a giant meteor hits the earth, killing off a huge portion of the population: the variability of the population that's left may be very different, if say, only one population in the jungles of the Amazon manages to survive (more on the true nature of human variability later).

This has turned into a giant post, but hopefully it makes sense. Anyone have a good example of genetic drift they want to share?

Happy Friday!

Tonight, the local library is holding Cheap Date Night (quite possibly the best library invention ever) and showing this:


I can't wait. I'm dragging hubby along (he's never seen it), and looking forward to a fun evening (I hope!).

What are you up to this weekend? I hope to get in some good writing time!