Ada Maria Soto's Blog, page 7

Guest Blog: Tell Me No Lies

We are continuing our spotlight on New Zealand authors with Shirley Wine and a sneak peak of her new book Tell Me No Lies

A brief bio – Shirley Wine writes supersized Rural Romances – a genre that covers very familiar territory for her. After a lifetime spent farming with her husband in New Zealand’s beautiful green land, Shirley’s stories cover familiar territory and provide her with a wide array of settings and plots filled with intrigue for her larger than life stories.

Tell Me No Lies, the first of three books contracted to Escape Publishing in Australia will be hitting the book stands on February 5th … a loosely interwoven trilogy of books about prodigal sons who come home to save properties dear to their heart… and in the process, these men who thought they’d cut family ties, learn that family and traditions are worth fighting for and that home is where the heart is…

 

Tell Me No Lies …

A brand new rural romance trilogy from a brand new voice: Shirley Wine introduces you to the secrets and scandals of Darkhaven

For single mum, Victoria Scanlan, a visit to the luxurious country house of Darkhaven, is a rare chance to combine work with pleasure. Securing the commission for The Wedding Of The Year will guarantee the ongoing success of her floral boutique and secure her the stability she needs for both herself and her son.

But Darkhaven comes with a shocking guest – the groom is Seth Donahue. Her young son’s father. The man who has no idea he has a child. The man she can’t forget.

After a lifetime of betrayal by every woman in his life, Keir Donovan has settled on a calm future with the glamorous heiress Davina Strathmore. She is everything Keir needs in a life partner: confident, poised, elegant, attractive, and aware that this marriage isn’t about love.

But when Victoria walks back in his life, his future suddenly doesn’t seem quite so well-defined. Keir’s passion for Victoria still burns as strongly as ever, but it’s clear she’s keeping secrets: and after a lifetime of deception, Keir has no tolerance for lies.

 

Excerpt:

Shock pulsed through Victoria’s bloodstream. Suddenly light-headed, she clung to Seth’s hand as her knees turned to rubber, threatening to give way and dump her at his feet.

His dark eyes narrowed, the generous lips compressed to a grim line and he strengthened his grip, catching her other hand fluttering helplessly like a wounded bird. The concern that darkened his eyes reached right inside her, steadying her.

‘Seth?’

She heard his father’s question as if it was muffled by water. One hunted glance in his direction was enough for her to grasp Caine’s bewilderment. She took a quick, shallow breath, and then another, but this did nothing to stop the hollow sound of blood drumming in her ears.

‘It’s a private joke, Dad.’

Seth’s deep voice pierced her numbness. Some joke!

That closet door jerked wide open as she struggled for a rational explanation, but coherent thought was impossible.

You’re clever, Mummy. Why can’t you find my daddy? Her little boy’s hopeful words pierced Victoria’s cottonwool brain.

My son!

Keir Donovan is my Seth, my son’s father?

Oh-mi-god!

A chasm opened at her feet, and Victoria looked into the black abyss and knew she teetered on the edge of disaster. One false step …

‘Do you two know each other?’ Logan looked from her to his stepbrother, his brows drawn together in an ominous frown.

The grip on her hands tightened and she grasped Keir’s unspoken warning. The instinctive response to him after all these years left Victoria even more shattered. Oh God! I’m on such treacherous ground.

‘We met several years ago. I’m flattered Victoria even remembers me.’

Not remember him?

His wry humour grated on emotions disillusionment rubbed raw, and realising she was still clinging to Keir’s hands Victoria jerked them free. As the numbing shock receded, her mind spun in frantic circles as she groped for a plausible excuse to escape.

This room.

This house.

This man!

 

Available for pre-order from Escape Publishing

The second book in the trilogy: Ask Me No Questions is due out in June 2016.

Shirley has also Indie-Published numerous other books including her best-selling series…

The Mulleins of Katherine Bay: three full length novels centred around the Mullein Siblings of Katherine Bay…a fictitious town on New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsular.

All her books  are available on all e-book sales platforms…  iBooks   Barnes & Noble  and Kobo or you can visit Shirley Wine’s Amazon page Shirley Wine/Amazon.com

 

You can find details of all Shirley’s books with buy links to all e-sales platforms on her website

http://www.shirleywine.com

 

 

The Manic End of Manic Depressive or Why I Have a House Full of Jam

 

Those lacking personal experience with Manic Depression or Bipolar Disorder often assume that the opposite side of the depressive bit is Happy. Manic is not happy. Manic is fast. Manic is the brain refusing to shut down, rest, or relax no matter what the underlying emotion is. Manic might be happy but it isn’t a requirement. Manic is the neurons in the left frontal lobe of the brain firing faster than they should without ever properly recharging, like a tiny localized seizure which will not end. In fact many bipolars are treated with the same drugs as epileptics.

You would think that fast would be helpful to a writer who is 40k behind on target word count, but fast doesn’t mean focused. At least not focused enough to open a single document and write. It would be nice if it worked that way. Hell if it worked that way I would risk the depressive moments and go off my meds right now. But it doesn’t work that way, at least not for me.

I should have seen this one coming. Three nights of overly vivid dreams intercut with long waking hours of my mind trying to write six stories at once while worrying about my taxes, a coming year where I will sell little new, if Crayola washable paint is really as washable as they say, and being annoyed at the fact that I probably wouldn’t be entering the A&P show this year because I have so much else to do.

Should have seen it coming.

Got to the grocery story early in the morning looking for that night’s dinner. One of those nice big box stores. I’m usually there in the late afternoon when all the good produce has been picked over but at 8AM there were big glossy piles of fruit. Apricots, plums, cherries, all of it just there and waiting.

I know technically manic and depressed phases fade on their own whims but I’ve always felt like I could somehow burn the manic days out. Do something that feeds the flickering storm until it is sated, at least for a while. There have been bad attempts at this over the years, stupid and embarrassing things I’d much rather forget. I have it down now, more or less. I need to do something that requires focus and precision but it can’t be a singular focus, like writing. There needs to be division coming together, eventually, in a whole. And if I can get something out of it in the end all the better.

Baking is good for that. Not a single batch of cookies. That I can do half asleep. More like what I did for last year’s A&P show. Bread, cakes, cookies, dozens all in one day with each variety needing different times, temperatures, and care. Enough different things to think about to help stop thinking about random things.

But this time it’s not baking. It’s too hot for the oven to be on all day and baking has too short a shelf life. Jams and marmalades, on the other hand, done just right can last for a year or more. I’ve been itching to try a chutney recipe I found, and I’m considering turning half the mint in my garden into jelly. Canning doesn’t split the focus quite as much as baking, but with Welcome to Night Vale playing in the background and my small laptop open on the counter so I can write blog posts while jars boil I can hopefully ride through this moment of running too fast but not too well.

Oh the clouds have gathered thick

And in my stomach I feel sick

And I have all this drive and no idea what I should do with it

But they say there is a calm

After the passing of the storm

So I can dream of going back outside when the rain and thunder’s done. – Frank Turner, The Opening Act of Spring

Guest Post: Sharing the Love

This year I will be opening my blog to guest posts from my fellow New Zealand based writers. First one up is Rachel Stedman of Otago.

 

Thanks to Ada for inviting me to post on her blog. Hi Ada, and congratulations for all those nominations, that is awesome! (If anyone’s wondering what I’m talking about, check out this blog post for the total list of all of Ada’s nominations by Goodreads readers)

 

I’m Rachel Stedman, writing as RL Stedman. Like Ada, I live in beautiful New Zealand, but I live in the south of the country, where the weather is colder and the roads are empty.

 

I write YA and middle grade fiction, mostly with fantasy elements. I’ve had a blast writing a romantic trilogy, a futuristic thriller, and most recently, a ghost story for kids. I’ve been fortunate enough to win a number of awards, but I’ve never been nominated like Ada has! You can read more about my writing here.

 

And…the reason I’m coming onto Ada’s blog is to let you know about a lovely little gift that I’ve got going. See, I love my readers. They are an awesome bunch! So to say ‘thank you’ I’ve created a giveaway, and I’m sharing it with Ada’s readers, too.

 

Here’s the Giveaway! 

 

 

I’ve written an EXPANDING series of short stories, called Upon a Time. These stories are based on fairy tales – but they’re told with a twist. I have a mirror programmer (how do you define ‘fairest’, anyway?), a shoe salesperson and of course, a fairy Godfather.

 

Four times a year, I’m emailing an installment to my readers. The first installment was on Christmas and the second will be next month, on Valentine’s Day. It’s all about roses. And love, of course! It’s called Death and Roses, and will be sent to readers in two parts (Valentines and Easter). The final installment will be sent to reader’s inboxes at Halloween.

 

So, if you’re wanting to grab yourself a copy of this expanding series (you’ll get the Christmas ones, too), click here to be taken to the email list. You can choose between pdf, kindle or nook/itunes formats.

 

Oh, and if you’re a teacher or librarian, please do feel free to copy and share these stories with your classes. The only thing I ask is that you retain the original formatting, as it is especially designed for these stories.

 

So that’s it! Happy Valentine’s Day in advance, and thank you again Ada, for the opportunity to share this with your readers.

 

May all your days be full of love.

 

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2016 and Beyond (plus love for Empty Nests)

2015 has been a big year for me on a career level. I got my first two novels properly published and in the process ridded myself of the Unfinished Project of the Damned that has been sitting on my hard drive since 2010. Many people said some very nice things about it (some people didn’t but screw them) and generally gave me hope. But the thing about writing a book people like is you are then expected to write another, and then another.

That brings us to 2016. It is highly unlikely you’re going to get a full length novel out of me in 2016. If you do it’ll be very late 2016. The sale to publish process for Empty Nests and Bowerbirds took about nine months each. My current work is progress only has 20k written. To finish, get a couple of beta reads, and rewrite will probably take me into May, possibly even June. It’s being written for Entangled since I pitched it to one of their main editors but the further I get into it the more I’m thinking they aren’t going to want it. I’ll submit to them anyway because I said I would then it’ll probably get a rewrite and go to another publisher. All that means it won’t be up for public consumption until 2017. Sorry.

On the plus side you’ll probably be getting two novels out of me in 2017. Once the current one is out I’m going to jump right into my spy interoffice romance story. It’s been bouncing around my head for a while and should get written down nice and quick. After that I have the BDSM epic ‘I don’t know what the hell it is’ project that is 60k in and nowhere near being done. (Can we say slooooooooooooooow build romance?)

And I promise that if I have a solid idea for a sequel to Bowerbirds I will drop everything else and jump on that.

You won’t be completely without my wring in 2016. In February I’ll be part of the Simmer Anthology from Dreamspinner press. It’ll be a romance anthology/recipe book. I’m going to try for a couple other of their anthologies as well. I’m also scribbling out longhand a shifter novella. Nothing resembling an ETA on that but it’s coming along. Plus there’s always this blog. You never know what’s going to pop up here.

And now for the Empty Nests love.

The nominations for the Goodreads M/M Romance Group Member’s Choice Awards have closed. Empty Nests has been nominated for Best Secondary Character – Dylan (so happy about this), Best White Collar, Best Contemporary/Mainstream, Best Virgins, Best Family Drama, and Best Book of the Year. Yep, someone out there thought Empty Nests is worth Book of the Year. I don’t know who but they have my eternal love.

 

 

 

 

 

And with that I say goodnight and happy New Years to everyone on the gregorian calendar. May your year be happy, productive, safe, and full of good books.

Free Read: Ven al Norte

Ven al Norte

By

Ada Maria Soto

It was a small stone that sent Diego tumbling onto the rocky ground, rolling beneath the thin soles of his shoes. As he fell the empty jugs made a dull thudding noise across his back. Overhead the sun beat down. He curled into a ball. He couldn’t find his way when the sun was high anyway. He may as well be walking in circles. He may as well lie where he fell.

#

‘Come north,’ his cousin Richardo had written him. Come north and he would get him a job in the kitchen where he worked. They made Pan-Pacific fusion food. Diego wrote back that he couldn’t cook and didn’t know what Pan-Pacific fusion food was. It doesn’t matter, Richardo wrote. Cooking is just putting food on fire and doing what the chef tells you so come north.

#

He pulled his shirt over his head as much as he could. His hat was lost miles back.

#

After Richardo’s letter he kissed his mother and his sister and his abuelita. He went to church and took bread from the fingers of the old priest and wine from the cup the young priest, then he paid a man to take him north.

They drove for a long time, dozens of them packed between bales of hay. It was nearly impossible to breathe and no one spoke.

At some point the road changed, Diego could feel it. They kept driving for hours more, then the truck stopped. They were dragged from between the hay and each given a small bottle of water. Then a man pointed them towards endless desert and told them to walk.

#

Diego tried to sleep as the heat baked down on his back.

#

They had all walked slowly, the desert brush scraping at their skin. Not far from their feet they had heard the angry rattle of snakes. He’d slowly fallen to the rear of the group wishing more to turn back than move forward. Then there were shouts at the head of the group. Diego crouched down behind some brush as the first shots were followed by the first screams. Fools tried to run. Diego kept low and watched, the prickly brush scraping his face.

When the screaming stopped the men with the guns who had taken them north started walking again. In the distance Diego could see the dust of a truck. He didn’t move until night fall. He collected the water from the dead then looked up to the constant star and taking his cousin’s advice began to move north.

#

Diego didn’t know how many days he’d been walking just that the water was gone, the sun was hot, and he wanted to sleep.

He moved north when the sun began to set and followed the stars as it turned cold.

In the dark he though he heard the flap of wings. Owls on the hunt, angels to protect him.

#

His abuelita had told him angels were soldiers of God who fought the devil in great battles. He drew a picture of men in green like the ones who went by their home in large trucks. He told his mother they were angels. She cried and sent him to the priest who told him to draw pretty ladies with white wings to keep his mother happy.

#

The clear night ripped the heat from the desert stones. He wished for the warmth of day just as he had wish for the cool of night. He tripped and fell again but this time stood. The full, bright moon hadn’t washed out the North Star. There was a breeze that rustled the scrub grass. He tried to listen beyond it for the sound of water in a stream, the warbling clack of fence wire, the flutter of angel wings.

He was sure he should be north by now. He should have run into a wall or river but he’d heard the wall was sporadic at best and the rivers were often dry long before they reached the sea. He could have stumbled across empty banks and never known.

He looked down hoping to see the smooth sheen of rounded river stones. He looked up. There was a whisper of wings and a quick blurring of the sky. Probably an owl gliding across the night but he wondered about angels. He sought out the twinkle of a particular star and pushed himself north.

###

Long Listed for the Pulp Literature Raven Short Story Contest, 2015

WoHeLo

The other day I read an article on sfgate about a group of girls in California, just north of where I grew up, who were trying to officially join the Boy Scouts despite there being Girl Scout groups available to them. They feel they are a bitter fit for the Boy Scouts because “they (Girl Scouts) take naps and write letters during their meetings instead of running around doing outdoors things”.

I instantly emailed my mother and asked if Camp Fire had gotten in touch with these girls. For those who are not familiar Camp Fire is a scouting type organization started in 1910 (pre Girl Scouts). Originally Camp Fire Girls they went co-ed in the 70’s. Their focus is on the outdoors, the environment, and community service. They also lack that slightly creepy paramilitary thing the scouts have going.

Lake Vera, former home of 5 different Camp Fire camps.

My mother got back to me and told me that Camp Fire is basically dead in Northern California. There is still the Golden Empire Council in Vallejo but they’ve always been small and are apparently floundering. All the major Bay Area councils, even Piedmont, have gone belly up. They camps around Lake Vera where I spent many childhood summers have all been passed to other organizations. This made me intensely sad.

I’m a mom now and living in New Zealand so Camp Fire isn’t an option but if I was still in the Bay I’d want my kid to join. I’m trying desperately to raise her reasonably gender neutral. There is a whole other blog post there that I’m going to get to one of these days. I also want her to have a good understanding of the outdoors. My mother was a Camp Fire Girl and when I turned five she became a group leader for me. Four years later she started a second group for my sister. The two of us climbed up the ranks for 13 years each. For various reasons we never went for our WoHeLo medallion (Eagle Scout equivalent) but falling short of that we picked up as many skills as the organization (and my mother) could cram into us, as well as having some adventures I can still tell at parties.

The logo was cooler in my day.

There was white water rafting, multiday pack trips, nearly freezing to death on Easter morning half way up Mt. Diablo, hiking up ice cold runoff streams because there were no trails to follow, braving the Oakland Mudflats just to pick up litter. On skill levels there was first aid training that fell just short of EMT levels, wilderness survival, lighting fires by rubbing two sticks together, ropes, knives, lots of community service, leadership skills, youth training skills, and the socioeconomics involved in charity fundraising (door to door candy sales every February). When I was feeling a bit antisocial at summer camp I was allowed to spend the days swimming in the lake or shooting on the archery range until I achieved official rankings from the American Archery Association (also now defunct). Basically you want a Camp Fire kid on your Zombie Apocalypse team.

I knew Camp Fire was shrinking but I don’t fully understand why. There is a vast surge of parents like myself who are trying to raise their children outside the cults of Transformers and the Disney Princess, and want their children accepted for who they are, and the thing about Camp Fire is they take anyone. They don’t care about gender. Boy, girl, neither, both, it doesn’t matter. Religion or lack thereof isn’t a thing. Sexuality doesn’t factor into it. Kids with special needs are welcomed. Family groupings don’t matter. A kid can have two moms, three dads, and a goat and as long as someone is willing to drive on camping trips occasionally no one cares. It is the perfect option for so many families and children who feel uncomfortable, unwelcomed, or down right rejected by the Girl/Boy Scouts.

In the end Girl/Boy Scouts have more money and some powerful public backing but I feel as a mother and a former Camp Fire kid here, now, 2015, when industry and media is trying so hard to split the genders, it is a time for Camp Fire to make a comeback in a big way.  It represents what we should be striving for.

So if anyone in the North Bay is reading this and wants to start a Camp Fire group get in touch with the Golden Empire Council which is the closest and maybe contact the national center as well. Then get in touch with those kids or any families you know who love the outdoors, want to grow as individuals, and are looking for a good third option.

The Laws of Camp Fire

(As I remember them. It’s been a few years.)

Seek Beauty

Give Service

Peruse Knowledge

Be Trustworthy

Hold Onto Health

Glorify Your Work

Work, Health, and Love

Bowerbirds Blog Tour Compiled Interview Questions Plus WIP Preview

Give us ten tips for becoming a better writer.

1. Write.

You can’t be a writer if you don’t write. I’d like to say something like write every day but I can’t manage that, so write whenever you can and when you’re not writing think about writing.

2. Read.

If you’re having trouble finding time to write you might have a hard time finding time to read but squeeze it in when you can. Put a book app on your phone for when you’re waiting for the doctor or at the DMV.

3. Read outside your genre.

We all have our favorites and when you have limited time to read you might want to stick to your favorites but I think that only reading the kind of books you write, or want to write, is a bit like talking to yourself. It can be productive to a certain extent but sooner or later you need outside input.

4. Write outside your genre.

Swimmers run, runners lift weights, rugby players will do pilates if they think no one is looking. To truly excel you need to work all muscles, not just the ones you use the most. Same goes with writing. If your thing is regency romance try knocking out a thousand words of science fiction. You might discover something new.

5. Listen to your editor.

Especially if they are experienced. It is their job to give you good advice. You may disagree with it but they are there to help you so don’t dismiss it off hand.

6. Make a list of words you use too much.

Everyone has words and phrases that pop up ten times a page. Mostly they are filler words and words that end with ly. Actually, really, apparently, obviously, probably. If you can filter these as you write that is good, but if it’s slowing you down just write as you always write then do a search for each word when you’re done. You might be surprised just how many hundreds of times it can show up in a manuscript.

7. Get a cheerleader.

Find a friend, another writer for preference, who will cheer you on no matter how absurd your goals might be. If you want to write six novels in a year there are lots of people who will tell you to set a more rational goal and you know you the odds of actually doing that are slim but you want a person who will say ‘YES YOU CAN TOTALLY DO THAT!’.

8. Get a word accountabilibuddy.

It’s handy if they are the same person as your cheerleader. They are the person who you report back to with how much you’ve written in a day/week/month, and when you don’t get back to them they have permission to poke you with a stick.

9. Write what you want to write not what people tell you you should write.

YA is hot right now. If you don’t want to write YA then don’t. Books that are forced are unpleasant to write and I think that the readers can tell. When I hear an author got a contract to write 10 books in a series I always feel a bit nervous for them. What if they get bored with the characters after book five? If your book is true to you then people will find it.

10. Ignore all the ‘what you need to know/do to be a writer’ lists out there.

Half of them contradict the other half. Find what works for you and just write.

What comes first, the plot or characters?

Mostly the characters. When I was much younger I had this weird idea that I would become an actor. After several years of acting training, much of it Method acting, someone rather bluntly told me I wasn’t an actor. Despite that a lot of that Method acting training managed to bleed into my writing. Combined with a script writing teacher who pounded into us that all action must be motivated by and inform character it means I have to know the characters inside out and backwards before I can tell the story. I’ll often have a very sketchy plot outline, and I’ll discover things about the characters as I go but the characters have to come before the story or the story dies very quickly.

What are you reading now?

Right now I have about 20 different books on the go. I have a bad habit of starting books then getting distracted and picking up a different one. Earlier in the year I realized just how many I had going (plus a few novel length bits of fanfic I had intended to read) and I decided to stop starting any more books until I finished what I had begun. And I told myself I’d do it one book at a time. It’s ended up being three books at a time. One in paper on my bedside table, one on my kindle app, and one on my google books app. So as of this moment I’m working on The Quiet American, the last section of Parade’s End and Pulp Literature Volume 3.

What is your work schedule like when you are writing?

My writing work schedule is pretty set. I only have two days a week to write and this is how it goes.

6:30 a.m. Wake up

7:30 a.m. Drop the kid at daycare

8:00 a.m. Make coffee

8:10 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. WRITE

5:15 p.m. Pick the kid up from daycare

Repeat above the next day and that’s my work week finished.

This is why there is going to be a bit of time between now and my next novel.

Do you hear from your readers much? What do they say?

I very seldom hear from my readers and wish I heard more. I came out of fandom where every chapter you post gets some kind of feedback from a reader. Even if I was posting a fully finished work it still became like a conversation. Their comments, my responses, then the next chapter. In professional writing you get reviews but reviews are really readers talking to each other and you’re not supposed to respond to them, even the good ones. I find it a bit alienating.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

The first thing I remember wanting to be was an astronaut. Then in the middle of morning cartoons there was a special report on the Challenger disaster. That was the end of that idea.

I did the brief ‘I want to be a doctor’ thing that I think most kids do. Then I saw an eyeball surgery on PBS. I still find eyeballs really grose.

Through most of elementary and middle school I wanted to be a scientist like my aunt. Not entirely sure why. I’d probubly have to go to my shrink to fish that one out. Somewhere around 8th grade I realized that I didn’t want to make a career out of sciend. When my mother asked me what I did want to do I said I wanted to be an actor. It was the first thing that popped out of my mouth.

When it comes to acting I’m great at learning lines but I have no stage presence.

I did my undergrad in theater directing but I spent most of those four years stage managing. I considered becoming a professional stage manager since but the hoops needed to get into the union were a little too daunting.

I did my master’s degree in film and television producing. The script writing teacher begged by to change my major. I probubly should have. I’d still like to be a TV or movie writer when I grow up. Maybe one day I’ll write a novel that gets optioned.

Was there a basis for you story? A previous experience or something else?

There wasn’t an exact basis for my story though some bits and pieces of my dad came out in James. He wasn’t a single father but he was a stay at home dad in the early 80’s. He got a lot of grief from other guys and didn’t have a lot of experience with small children. I like to think he muddled through pretty well.

What skills do you think a writer needs?

The ability to tell a story is the most important thing a writer needs. There are useful things like an ability to spell and knowing where to put a comma but if the story is truly good you can find an editor to help out with that.

What for you is the perfect book hero?

I prefer the flawed hero. I never liked Prince Charming or what’s his name from Cinderella. There was nothing interesting about them. I love Sam Vimes from the Discworld books. He starts out as an alcoholic watchman in a corrupt watch, with no respect, living in poverty because he gives his pay to the widows and orphans of other watchmen, and even in that state he tries to arrest a dragon on murder charges. I think Nietzsche was a bit of a dick who spewed a lot of rubbish but the truest thing he ever said was ‘when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you.’. Heroes who have looked into the abyss and walked away with a piece of it still in them are far better to read than the ones who have never even glanced at darkness.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Before Empty Nests came out I would have said no. It’s a sweet little low drama romance. Now… Shortly after I got my print copy of Empty Nests I took it to my local romance writers meeting to show off. It’s a very supportive group and we’re always glad to hear when other people get contracts or have their books come out. I handed it over to a couple of other writers who wanted to look at it and of course they flipped it over to read the blurb and were quite surprised that it was about two men. They weren’t negative about it had just never occurred to them. I answered a few questions they had and even managed to do it without total sarcasm. One said she didn’t think it would be to her tastes but not everything is to everyone’s tastes. I think it might have been a bit of a generational gap since these were slightly older women but it was an odd/interesting experience to have.

Tell us about your favorite childhood book.

Book? As in one? That’s not going to happen. Favorite Star Trek novels, since I read a lot of those, How Much Just For The Planet, Ishmael, The Three Minute Universe, The Tears of the Singers. Favorite fantasy novels were the Belgariad and Mallorean series. Classic Science Fiction was The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles. As far as more ‘proper’ literature went I loved The Secret Garden. It was probably the only ‘girl’ book I ever managed to get through as a kid.

What’s the easiest thing about writing?

I find making up characters to quite easy. I honestly have a whole army of little half formed people living in my head. The tricky part is working out if I can make a story around them or if they fit into someone else’s story.

Name one author (living or dead) you’d like to write with?

I would have liked to have met Terry Pratchett but I could never have begun to write at his level. I’d like to maybe do something with Steven Fry. I’d love to be in the writers’ room for Hannibal even though I know it’s not getting another series.

Tell us about your cover and how it came about.

Empty Nests and Bowerbirds was originally one very long and difficult book. I always had a very clear idea of what I wanted for the cover art for Empty Nests, with the two cars, but when the book split I had zero ideas for Bowerbirds. Oddly enough cell phones and types of cell phones are rather important in Bowerbirds so I had some half assed idea involving those adding a note that I’d be willing to go with anything they thought would be better. The Dreamspinner Press art department passed it on to the massively talented Paul Richmond who came back with the beautiful cover I have now.

Is this book part of a series? Do you have ideas that could make it into a series? If it is a series, tell us a little about it.

Bowerbirds is the second in a series with Empty Nests as the first book. I’ve gotten pokes from friends who have read both about writing a third but I have ZERO ideas for a third book that don’t involve breaking the characters up and burning the Lemon Drop Wonder down to its wheels. I’ve lived with these guys in my head for five years now, I need a bit of distance from them.

Word association. Tell us the first thing that comes to mind when you read these words.

Ketchup – Fries

Flakes – Dandruff

Elastic – Hair ties

Timer – Cookies

Google – The thing tracking my very weird search history. I’m a writer, it’s perfectly normal to look up X-Files episodes and Victorian sex toys in the same day.

If you could bring back one TV show, what would it be and why?

I suppose the first kneejerk reaction to bring back a canceled show would be to say Firefly. It had so much potential, you could see it was building into something that would have been truly great but it was ripped away before it had a chance to find its feet. That said there is a sitcom called Mr. Sunshine that was on a few years back. It starred Matthew Perry and Allison Janney. It filmed 13 episodes, only aired nine, and it was hysterical. There is an episode where Allison Janney beats up a Smurf on Ice! How can they have taken that off air!?

I studied film and television and watch probably far more television than a writer should. The list of shows that I enjoyed that went before their time is long. FOX is responsible for many of those deaths, ABC for many of the rest. The Lone Gunman suffered from bad timing. Torchwood should have been given a proper third season. I would have like to have seen Forever renewed. Almost Human was another that had so much potential. My Name is Earl deserved a better sendoff. Community did get its six seasons but it got jerked around so much I think it was hard for them to keep up the quality level they could have had if they’d just been left alone. Does anyone else remember Brimstone? That was a cool show. Life on Mars (UK) I think could have managed a third season. There are many more I’m sure but those are the ones just off the top of my head. Like I said, too much television.

Can you describe in detail what your writing environment is like?

It is cluttered and probably a bit too much like my childhood bedroom. I’ve got random posters and pictures all over the wall in front of me. I inherited my partners old 24 inch monitor. Half the household books and DVD’s are crammed into my office because the toddler is a climber and likes pulling things off shelves. Hopefully when she’s four or so we can move it all out and give me a bit more space. It’s also full of my knitting stuff which is more than I really need but any knitter will tell you there’s no such thing as too much yarn.

Is there one of your characters that you relate to (from any of your works)? Why?

I can relate to James to a certain extent just because he’s a parent but I started writing him before I had a kid and when I was still swearing I’d never have a kid so it’s a bit weird to say that.

If you couldn’t be an author, what would you do instead?

Does writing for TV count as not being an author? I’d probably like to be a theater director which is what I originally studied in college.

Is there anything that you learned during the writing process that you wish you had known before hand?

Just how long the editing and release process takes. Somewhere in my head I thought it would all go way faster but I’ve been told that a six month turnaround is actually pretty quick. Now that I know this I can work out my grand five year plan a little more accurately, I hope.

Is there anything that you wish you could change about your book now that it is out?

I’m not sure if I ever managed to really properly articulate James’s fear in the last third of the book. He’s truly scared shitless but I’m not sure if I managed to get that across despite all the rewrites I did.

How do you come up with new ideas for your story?

I take long showers. Bang my head against the wall. Stare blankly at my computer screen. Complain to my partner that I have no ideas. Rewatch old TV shows and just hope my subconscious coughs up something useful.

What’s next for you as a writer?

I’m working on a contemporary MM BDSM piece. I don’t know if it’s going to be a novel, multiple novels, three novellas. I don’t seem to have a lot of control over where the story is going or how long it’s going to be. It’s 60k and I don’t think I’m half done.

Where do you live? Do you think this influences how or what you write?

I live in Auckland, New Zealand. I don’t think it influences my writing as much as I would like it to. I think this is a tricky time to be an expat writer. The days of Hemmingway and Graham Greene are long dead and gone. Everyone is now much more aware of the outsider gaze and the baggage that comes with it. I think it’s hard to write about a place or culture you didn’t grow up in without worrying about getting something wrong and offending the very people you are trying to assimilate into. I could write a few thousand words on the topic but this isn’t the time or place for it. And honestly Auckland is just one more sprawling city and I live in the suburbs.

What is your favorite genre outside of the one you write in? Why?

Science Fiction. I was raised with it. My mother was/is a trekie. Family TV viewing was Star Trek. My dad was into more classic science fiction and got me into it as well. Ray Bradbury is still one of my all-time favorite writers, closely followed by Douglas Adams. A step sideways from that is Terry Pratchett who is another favorite.

Do you have any vices? Shoes, coffee, shopping…etc?

I like TV. I really do. I like TV probably far more than any novelist should admit to. That doesn’t mean I’ll watch anything. Reality TV can suck it. But I also have a lot of Just for Fun shows like Doctor Who or Agents of SHIELD. I get really into the quality shows as well. I loved Hannibal while it lasted. BoJack Horseman is exceeding good if you are willing to appreciate the meta of it. I could go on for a long time. I also like coffee quite a lot.

List five of your favorite TV shows (past or present) and tell us what you loved about them.

M*A*S*H – I was an insomniac as a child. My father swears that as a baby I’d never fall asleep before the Jonny Carson Monologue. As I got older my parents gave up trying to get me to sleep. The rule just became that I couldn’t wake them up and I wasn’t allowed to be grumpy in the morning. I mostly read but if I didn’t want to do that I’d sneak out and watch MASH reruns, 11:30pm, Monday to Friday on FOX channel 2. I think it had a lot of effect on my sense of humor and my overall world view. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen every episode at least once. Some are better than others. Some are forgettable and some stick forever but I don’t think they ever once phoned it in.

Life on Mars – I’m talking about the original UK version. Did you see this? Did you see the glory that is this show? The ultimate ‘from two different worlds’ buddy cop show, the different worlds being 2006 and 1973. Just weird enough to grab attention, not so weird as to tune viewers out, and every single piece of casting was brilliant. Every second of film was beautiful.

Numb3rs – I was a sucker for the procedural cop show until recently. I know they are supposed to be reasonably formulaic, that’s sort of the point, but the characters have lately become formulaic in a not good way. It seems there always has to be one male character on the team who’s an asshole. A tough female character with a horrible tragic past. If there is a really smart character there has to be something “wrong” with them that keeps them separated from the rest of the team and they are ignored until all other options have been tried. And the boss character never cracks a smile. Numb3rs didn’t do this. The women were all tough without being broken. The guys were friendly and respectful. The ‘nerds’ were listened to, respected, and not played as characterchures. And out of 118 episodes they only once didn’t have a search warrant before going into a situation and the writers made a point of stating that and stating that there would probably be fallout from it.

Red Dwarf – I’ve written a lengthy post on my own blog about my relationship with this show. The humor is crude, the effects were bad, and it only made US television because the schedulers at KTEH PBS were giant nerds in the 90’s. Something about it just made me happy though. If it had been a drama about the last human alive it would have been a bleak, existential mess. Instead you get moments like this.

Lister: You said yourself. I can’t stop it. Let’s get this over with. [grabs a pipe]

Rimmer: Lister, what’s that for?

Lister: I’m going out as I came in, screaming and kicking.

Rimmer: You can’t just whack Death on the head!

Lister: If he comes near me, I’m gonna rip his nipples off!

Babylon 5 – I grew up on Star Trek and I loved it and I always will but for as nice and shiny a future as Star Trek presented, especially in The Next Generation, it was always a bit hard to recognize the humans as human. For as glorious a vision as it was for a grumpy teenager it was hard to believe it would ever come about. Babylon 5 was different, humans were still human on every level. There was still war, religion, pizza, alcoholics, the post office, paperwork, bisexual Jewish Russians, and porn. It wasn’t a clean or pretty future but an exceedingly well written and believable one.

Favorite thing about building your own world?

That I get to build my own world. I get to set up a few rules and some internal logic then wind it up and watch it go.

What inspired you to write your first book?

It’s hard to say. It was a slow descent into madness. I know the first short story I had published came out of a writer I used to know saying something I found really snotty and the story was a form of petty passive aggressiveness. This is also how I chose my college when I was in high school. The second short and first novella came from Cooper West poking me with a virtual pointy stick. The novels just snowballed out of that.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I don’t know. You’d probably have to ask my readers that. I know I write a lot of dialog and am often lite on description and internal monolog. That comes out of my years trying to be a script writer. That’s also why the first outlines of my books usually have a three act structure.

Who are some of the authors that influenced you to write?

Ray Bradbury is a big one. Dashiell Hammett. David Mamet. Tony Kushner. Tom Stoppard. D. C. Fontana. J. M. Straczynski. Joss Whedon. Mercedes Lackey. Anne Rice (before she got too weird). David Eddings. And if you ask me tomorrow I’ll probably give you a completely different list.

What are some jobs you’ve held? Have any of them impacted your writing, and if so, how?

My last major job allowed me to write because it was a night job and there were usually four or five hours a night where I had nothing to do. I got a lot of writing and knitting done during those years. I have an entire major plot point in one of my WiPs that comes directly from my time substitute teaching. I was working for a software company is the 90’s in the SF Bay Area so I was there for the entire tech bubble. That’s probably why the Nested Hearts books take place in the computer business. One of these days I’m going to write about the theater but only after I’m 100% positive I will never see certain people again. You can change the names to protect the guilty but some things just bleed through. I’ve sold makeup, books, and fabric. Worked Christmas retail, cleaned rooms, done volunteer security, moved harpsicords, then there were all those years working historical reenactment events. We are the result of our experiences. I guess our books are too.

What is the nicest thing anyone has ever said about your writing?

I got an email about five years ago now about a piece of fanfic I’d written. The lady asked if she could print out and bind one of my stories as a gift for a friend because the story meant so much and was so important to him. I said yes, of course, and that has always stuck with me.

Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that impact your writing?

I’m a part time writer and full time mom. I have two days a week when my kid is in day care but I also have to use that time to do things like go to appointments or unclog the sink. I try to write 4000 words a week, so 2000 each free day, but at that rate it takes almost 5 months to hit the 60,000 word minimum for most publishers and my stories usually run much longer than that. Throw in shorts for anthologies and contests plus all the usual life stuff and it takes me a long time to get even a first draft done. This is my way of saying it might be a while before I get another novel out.

What interested you about the theme of this book?

It has a theme? I thought it was about two really stressed out guys falling in love. Is that a theme? Let’s call it a theme. My sister and I joke that we’re trapped between protestant work ethic and catholic guilt. If you’re not working your ass off then you’re doing something wrong with your life. That’s a hard idea to shake off. It’s also hard to find room for other things in your life with that in your head.

What is the most difficult part of writing for you?

Getting past my own self-doubt. That little voice in my head that screams ‘you suck what the fuck to you think you’re doing’ can be very distracting.

Name your four most important food groups.

Caffeine

Dark Chocolate

Guacamole

Instant noodles

(No, really, I am a fully functioning adult, I swear)

What book do you wish you could have written?

I wish I could have written a Star Trek novel. One of the Pocket Book ones. Maybe not a particular one but I would have liked to have been involved in that.

How important are names to you (in your books)? Do you choose names based on liking the way it sounds or meaning? How do you choose your names?

Names are very important. Sometimes they have meanings. Sometimes I choose a name to show a character is from a particular time or cultural background. When I’m doing a romance I want names that sound good together or say something about the dynamic of the two characters. Sometimes I pick a random place holder name and it sticks.

Were you already a great writer? Have you always enjoyed writing? How long have you been writing?

Was anyone a great writer from the beginning? I know there are people who have been good writers from the start but I think great takes a lot of work. I have always enjoyed writing even when I was convincing myself that I should be doing something else with my life.

Which character, from any of your books, do you consider your greatest work?

I have a character that might not see the light of day for a few more years, but his name is Martin and I love him, partly because I can’t seem to control him. He is quiet but firm. When I try to point his story in a particular direction half the time he says ‘no’. When I work with him I have to use a good deal of finesse and I have to justify everything I do with him. It’s frustrating but fun.

What hobbies do you enjoy?

I like to knit when I have the chance but between writing and having a small child I’ll take sleep over other free time activities.

 

From the recipe file of Gabe Juarez

French toast is the best Morning After the Night Before breakfast because it looks so fancy but it is so easy.

I always try to do it with sourdough bread but any frech bread is good. I mix an egg into a cup of milk then add some cinnamon, vanilla, and a pinch of nutmeg if I have it then mix it well.

I cut four slices of the bread, thick but not too thick. A bit thicker than what you’d use for toast.

I soak each piece in the milk and egg so it’s soaked through, but not so much that the bread falls apart.

Then I drop each piece into a hot well-oiled pan. I turn the pan down to medium since I want the bread to cook through without burning on the outside.

Once it’s brown on one side I flip it then put a banana that’s been cut in half lengthwise into the pan.

When the bread is cooked through I serve it up with the grilled banana and either syrup or powdered sugar with a squeeze of lemon.

Dead easy but looks and tastes great.

Work in Progress

I’m currently working on a book/books/novellas/something which has the working title of A Friendly Favor. It’s a slow build friends to lovers story.

The two main characters are Julian and Matt.

Julian is 45, six feet tall, African American, a serial monogamist, and recently single but with no real desire to ‘get back out there’. He is a graphic designer for an advertising company but he is a skilled painter and general visual artists. He went to Harvard, just like his brother, sisters, father, and grandfather. He studied classics while the rest of his family studied business, law, and medicine. He lives in Columbus Ohio while the rest of his family is in Boston. He’s the guy who’s always willing to do a favor for a friend.

Matt is 33, five foot ten, three quarters native Hawaiian but grew up in San Bernardino. He graduated from UCLA law school but decided he didn’t want to be a lawyer so never took the Bar exam. He’s based out of Portland and is an international lobbyist for a group of green energy companies. He describes himself as the guy trying to talk OPEC out of drilling for oil. He was recently kicked out by his boyfriend of six years and is at loose ends emotionally and residentially.

Excerpt

The muffins at the Rainbow Palace Café and Books were not the best, Julian had to admit. The sweet ones were always a bit dry and the savory ones strangely oily, but it was the closest thing the area had to a non-alcoholic gay club.

A waiter with more tattoos than clothes put a slightly oily spinach muffin in front of Julian and a huge slice of triple chocolate cake in front of Matt. He walk away without a hint of acknowledgment and Julian felt like a cranky old man as he resisted the urge to call the kid back and deliver a lecture on customer service. Instead he watched Matt tear into his cake as if it had personal offended him, devouring it in great fork fulls,

“Careful, you’ll make yourself sick.” Matt flicked his dark eyes up and Julian felt like a grumpy old man again. He’d been having that feeling a lot lately

Matt did start to chew a little more slowly. He had yet to say what was wrong or why he’d called. He had made it about two thirds through the cake, and had picked off the frosting, when he finally had enough and pushed it away.

“So, Jerry and I broke up.” Matt’s voice was flat. He didn’t look at Julian, just squished cake crumbs with the back of his fork.

“I’m sorry.” Julian had known Matt over five years and the whole time he had been with Jerry. Not that Julian had ever met Jerry. Matt used Portland as his home base and was only in town a couple times a month for work if that, but Matt had always seemed a happy guy and talked about his relationship often. “How are you holding up?” Matt shrugged and squished some more crumbs. “Was there a particular reason or did it just stop working?”

Matt sighed and dropped his fork onto the plate. “He said he wanted me around more, which is sweet and all but he made it into an ultimatum, ‘me or your job’.”

Julian decided that Jerry was an asshole. “And you love your job.”

“I love my job. I’m great at my job.” Matt briefly spread his arms wide. “I’m awesome at my job, or at least as awesome as someone can get at my job. Yes, it involves me working in several different states and a fair amount of international travel. I mean I could have probably asked to get assigned to one office, and I’d actually been planning on it, but I wasn’t digging the whole ultimatum thing. Plus he dropped this on me at like five in the morning twenty minutes before I had to leave for the airport. There was screaming involved, some unpleasant things said, and by the time I got to the other side of security I had a text telling me my stuff would be in storage when I got back to Portland.”

‘Yep,’ Julian thought. ‘Definitely an asshole.’

Write On or Why I Got Lou Diamond Phillips to Sign a Script for a Show That Never Happened

I love television. I know that is heresy for an author to admit but I really do love it. I also love books, I’ve been reading obsessively since I was three, but along with that have a deep relationship with a lot of television. In fact I want to be a television writer when I grow up.

I know exactly where and when that desire started. I grew up in an area where going outside to play was in no way shape or form an option. That meant too much TV even though my parents did their best to keep it to PBS. At age four Mister Rogers Neighborhood was a standby for me and pretty much every other kid. I remember not being able to figure out how it worked. It was frustrating. I knew it wasn’t Mister Rogers’ actual house, but I couldn’t work out how the camera went through walls, or where the music came from. Then in one episode Mister Rogers told the camera guy to pull back. Suddenly you co

uld see the set, the other cameras, and the crew. Even a guy sitting in front of a tape deck playing the music. I cannot explain how completely mind blowing this was for me. Total paradigm shift at age four. TV was something that was made instead of something that just happened.

As I grew up TV continued to be important. Yes I had favorite books that I stayed up all night reading but once my parents gave up on bedtime I would sneak out of my room almost every night to watch MASH (11:30pm, FOX, channel 2, Mon-Fri). When I was small my mom was working three jobs and I didn’t see much of her but once a week she’d make popcorn and we’d sit and watch Highway to Heaven together. Not sure why that show but it was our thing. Later, with my dad, it was Northern Exposure. That was our thing.

Through my adolescence, when life sucked, there was a list of TV shows, mainly science fiction, full of stories I could just lose myself in.

There is a lot of TV in the world that sucks. Flat plots, bad acting, and hack writing. And don’t even get me started on reality television. I used to work for a company that made that shit. Trust me when I say that watching sausage get made is more appealing. But there is also brilliance on that little screen. Some of the most solid writing in the late 20th and early 21st century has happened on television. Truly epic plotlines played out in 42 minute intervals, and moments of pure heartbreak delivered in seconds where a movie might need a whole scene and a novel could take a whole chapter. Don’t believe me? Go back and look at the Sorkin years of West Wing and tell me there wasn’t genius there. In Excelsis Deo, The Short List, Celestial Navigation, Two Cathedrals. Did you watch Babylon 5? Passing Through Gethsemane, The Hour of the Wolf, The Fall of Night. Show after show I could give you a list of hundreds of hours.

I’ve failed at a lot of career attempts either through lack of skill, opportunity, or certain important personality traits, but in between failing to become a movie producer and becoming a romance writing housewife I decided I wanted to write for television. In truth I wanted to do this the whole time but it was not something I had vocalized even to myself. Most TV networks and several production companies have writer training programs. A lot of these have the word Diversity in the title. They are a good way of staffing the writers’ rooms with cheap fresh blood. I wanted into one of these highly competitive programs badly. To get in I had to write a script for a show that was on that particular network.

I will admit the first few weren’t that good. I wouldn’t have let me in on those but as the polite rejection form letters came in I got better. However by 2008 I was losing hope. I decided to make a swing for the CBS writing program with a spec script for Numb3rs. I had a thing for procedural dramas and nerds so this was one of my favorite shows at the time even though it wasn’t particularly big. You can read the script here. I was unemployed at the time and in a bad headspace so the script is darker than the show ever actually got but I think it was the first truly solid TV script I wrote. I didn’t get in. I didn’t get into the next one or the one after that. The last spec script I wrote was in 2011 for Supernatural. By that point I was getting too old for the Young writers programs and was cluing into the idea that I wasn’t diverse enough for the Diversity ones.

I shifted my focus to prose and wrote the first draft of Empty Nests. I still want to be a TV writer when I grow up. With a toddler and trying to get a career as a novelist going my TV time is limited and I have to be picky about shows. Aside from my candy bar shows (Sleepy Hollow and Supernatural) I mostly go by the strength of the writing. If the writing isn’t solid it’s off the list. Even when it is solid I spend time thinking about how I might have told the same story or taken the show in another direction. And even though I know my current work is never going to get that Hollywood option I still have a cast list ready to go. One of the reasons I keep my fandom handles separate from my prose writing is because I still dream of working with certain script writers and never want to say ‘I love that show you did which is why I wrote a hundred twenty thousand word BDSM novel based on it’. Nope. I’ve had some embarrassing conversations in my day but that one might kill me.

Being at the bottom of the world means that for the annual geek fest, Armageddon, pickings for guests can be a little slim. We’re never getting any of the Avengers down here. The big name this year was Lou Diamond Phillips. He was probably invited on the back of Stargate Universe but he’s got 120 imdb credits so there’s really something for everyone. Credit 93 is for a reoccurring character in Numb3rs named Ian Edgerton, a sniper described as “the bastard son of Clint Eastwood and Yoda”, a character I used in that long ago Numb3rs spec script.

I could have bought a Stargate still for him to sign or even one from La Bamba but I’ve been thinking a lot on past and future writing these days so instead I printed out a copy of my spec script, plopped it on the table, told him what it was for, and asked him to sign it because somewhere in one of those infinite parallel universes someone different at CBS picked up that script and loved it. Somewhere in that universe I ended up in the Numb3rs writers room and ran around like a dork getting everyone to sign my first produced script. In this universe the script was never produced but Lou Diamond Phillips still signed it. He told me to keep working at my goals and wrote Write On above his name. I like to think that was probably the first time he ever signed a script for an episode of TV that never happened.

And you never know where life will take you. Hollywood is never going to pick up my

 little gay romances but I’ve got a non-romance urban fantasy murder mystery in the work pile that might have legs. I even have it cast. Sophia Brown as the ex-Oakland PD detective, and Matthew Yang King as the FBI profiler. Haven’t cast the killer yet but I’m sure someone perfect will come up.

Free Reads: Out Run the Storm

Here is a little story I wrote for a Lex Chase Flash Fiction Friday.

OUTRUN THE STORM

BY ADA MARIA SOTO

It had been a year since the city had stopped watering the grass in the parks, letting it go brown and the ground hard. They had booked the park for the wedding well before that. It felt like they had been planning it forever. Kenneth kicked at the grass with his high polished shoes.

READ MORE

In Defense of Plaid Pants and Faded T-shirts

Notice, this will contain spoilers for the last few seasons of Doctor Who, though if you haven’t been watching Doctor Who you probably don’t care about this in the slightest.

In the past couple of weeks I’ve gotten the impression that I am possibly one of the only people on the entire internet who actually likes the Doctor’s costumes in The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar. I’ve see angry rants, snobby posts, and mocking fanart. I, however, am quite enjoying the Doctor in faded t-shirts and plaid pants.

Historically Doctors haven’t changed their looks much over the course of their tenure. There might be a subtle change in coat, one flavor of tweed for another, or a major change for a particular situation, like the 11th Doctor in his death tux, but there has always been a feeling of them being costumes instead of clothes.

In college I took The History of Fashion and Dress as taught by the fabulous Tara Maginnis of the Costumer’s Manifesto. Or

as she called the class The History of Western Civilization through Sex and Shoes. I also took a year of costume design and construction from her. While all of this was well over a decade ago I do remember a lot about clothes and costumes not just reflecting who a person is but their past, culture, situation, and society around them.

This concept of clothing and costumes as a changing reflection hasn’t always happened with the Doctor. Instead there seems to be a habit of hinging costumes on signature, slightly over the top, pieces, bow ties, long scarves, celery in the pocket, leaving the impression that the Doctor is in fact in a costume and not clothes. A bit like a cartoon character that is always drawn with the same outfit. With the newest Doctor there was an obvious attempt to backtrack from some of that. Perhaps because they cast an older actor (and major Doctor Who fan) the original costume for 12 with a simple white shirt and black coat harkened back to the first Doctor. It went with the redesign of the TARDIS with its bookshelves and chalkboards (which admittedly I do like). The Edwardian gentleman time traveler I think was the brief. This look didn’t last long. Not even a full season. They even hung a lamp on the fact that it wasn’t quite working by the fifth episode.

‘I was hoping for minimalism, but I think I came out with magician. – Time Heist’

The Holey Jumper

The first shift was the holey jumper in season 8 episode 4 – Listen. I read some absolute rants about it. ‘Why would the Doctor have something that looks so trendy but hipstery but obviously for someone younger and it looks like he just threw it on’. The jumper came from Peter Capaldi’s actual wardrobe and was in fact what he wore to his very first table read as the Doctor. And why wouldn’t the Doctor have something like that? He has all of time and space. Think about how much random bits of clothing you have that you haven’t worn in years, haven’t thrown out, and have forgotten you even owned. Now imagine if you had the TARDIS as your closet and a thousand years. Plus everything left behind by companions. Just picture Jack’s corner of the TARDIS closet.

They tried to keep with the gentleman time traveler look for the rest of season 8, with an occasional change in shirt color here or there and the holey jumper coming up now and again, except the Doctor isn’t an Edwardian gentleman. He’s an overgrown juvenile delinquent. He only passed his time lord exams by 1% on the second try. He’s a thief, not above breaking and entering, and really not good at following orders. He’s a runaway. Peter Capaldi’s own personality seems to have bled into the Doctor a little. He spent his youth not only as a giant Doctor Who fan but as a punk rocker, who dropped acid, and spent his nights hanging out with Craig Ferguson drinking beer and eating curries. His previous big roll was a character who could out cuss anyone in the history of television, ever. By the Christmas episode the hoodie and holey jumper had made the publicity stills.

The Doctor’s costumes in The Magician’s Apprentice and The Witch’s Familiar completely threw the idea of the gentleman time traveler out the window and I think made a bold statement about this Doctor’s priorities. When 11 thought he was going to die he put on a tux and made sad faces at River Song. When 12 thought he was going to die he threw himself a party and stopped doing his laundry.

It makes me happy, the idea that to Doctor grabbed a pink t-shirt he got somewhere, maybe noticed a couple of curry stains on it, tossed a second faded out t-shirt on top of that, then thought ‘It’s the middle of a mini ice age and I might have to sneak around for some reason’. So one black hoodie and some plaid pants, because why the hell not have plaid pants and done. I would not be surprised if that t-shirt came out of Peter Capaldi’s wardrobe as well.

PC and his faded t-shirts.

And let us be honest, there are very few of us who haven’t gone through phases of our life where we’ve dressed like that; grabbed the thing on the top of the wash pile that didn’t smell too funny and hope for the best. For me it was all four years of college, year two of grad school, and the first six months after becoming a parent. And if I was facing the possibility of death at the hands of my arch nemesis I like to think that maybe I’d have more important things to think about than the laundry.

For Under the Lake and Before the Flood they have gone back to the black holey jumper, appropriate for a ghost story. There are also pictures floating around

apparently from Season 9 Episode 10 where the Doctor is in red velvet echoing the third Doctor a bit. But I like that. Costumes should be clothes, and until it is canon that the Doctor doesn’t sweat, spill food, and can sonic out stains it never made sense that he wore the same thing day after day.