Laura Benedict's Blog, page 41

BLISS HOUSE: A Cover Story

Is it just me, or is the cover for BLISS HOUSE just breathtaking? The novel won't be released until June 15th of next year, but this image feels so incredibly right that I feel comfortable with it already.

It's a good thing I don't have to create my own book covers. Between my traditionally published novels and anthologies, my work has been blessed with some gorgeous artwork, done by people with imagination and strong artistic voices. When I commissioned covers for the re-issues of Isabella Mo...

Off To The Fair

(photo by Kermit Moore)
I am a big fan of traditions. Not just of big holiday traditions like serving turkey at Thanksgiving (along with cornbread dressing and scalloped oysters and homemade rolls and a little cranberry sauce to cut the carbohydrates), hiding Easter baskets for my kids, and crafting handmade Valentines for my darlings on Valentine's Day. I also love having traditions for ordinary occasions: hanging begonias on the front porch each spring (because they grow best in filtered sun...

Review: A Stone For Danny Fisher

I had no idea what to expect when I picked this up in audio from the library. I read a few of Harold Robbins' more commercial, salacious novels from the late seventies, yet hadn't thought of him in years. Part of the reason why I wanted to look at Robbins again concerned those books: One of the stories I'm planning for my Bliss House series will be set in the seventies and will have Robbins overtones. But this novel is an entirely different animal from his 1970s work. Published in 1952, this...

Blackberries: A Love/Hate Story

I'm not terribly fond of blackberries. Their texture is too complex, their flavor unpredictable. When I was very young, I often confused them with raspberries because we rarely had either in our house. In Southern Illinois, where I live now, I don't know that anyone grows them for sale. Really, there shouldn't be any need because they seem to be growing everywhere I look.

Blackberry brambles--they aren't exactly bushes, and not quite vines--aren't picky about where they take root. Their tough,...

Black Snake Rodeo

I am not a snake person. Don't like them. Don't want them around.

A few days ago I opened the garage door and spied--peeking from behind the new power washer I've yet to use on our deck--a 3-foot Black Snake. I didn't run away screaming, but it thoroughly unnerved me in that ancient part of my brain that would instantly recognize the barest outline of a wolf, grizzly bear, or tarantula at 100 yards. Honestly, I think I would rather have run into a tarantula than a snake. There's a reason that...

My Spring Break '13: A Totally Touristy Trip to Alabama

In no particular order of fun. It was all good, as they say.

Gothic Defined, and a Portal to a Mysterious Place

Gothic is an interesting word.

You know who the Visigoths were: those unsophisticated, crusty and crude pre-Germanic types who swooped down on the slothful, stuttering remains of the Roman Empire in the fourth century and gobbled them up. They were fairly illiterate victors, so they've gotten a bad rap in history. (Pardon me if I'm a little defensive. You know that my cultural/ancestral totem is Viking Barbie, yes?) They remain unpopular to this day.

Fifteen or twenty years ago, the most r...

Pruning Shears and Red Pens

February--This is the hot mess that is my beloved butterfly bush. God, I want to get my pruning shears onto the thing. And not just the pruning shears, but the limb lopper, as well. Okay, maybe not the limb lopper, which extends to seven feet long and is generally reserved for trees--but definitely one of the larger pruning tools in the garage.
The first time I owned a butterfly bush was back in Virginia (*sniff* I miss that place so.). We planted three in a corner of the yard, just in front o...

The Next Big Thing Blop Hop: Bliss House

Oh, good! I've been tagged.

Welcome to the latest stop on The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. This particular blog tour invites writers to answer ten questions about their current Work in Progress, or forthcoming project. Each tagged writer answers the questions, then tags five or more writers to answer the questions on their blog, then they tag five more, and so on...It's a great way for readers and writers to find each other, don't you think?

First off, you'll want to get to know the amazing writer...

Old People Sex, My Romantic Heart, and Other Surprising Notions

Since I didn't make it to church this week, I'm going to use today's blog as a confessional vehicle, okay? It's about...romance.

I know. I'm aghast, too.

Friday night I fell asleep watching The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel on my iPad. The falling asleep part had more to do with my tiredness than the film. Mostly. I had tried to get my daughter or husband to go with me to see it when it was in theaters, but had no takers. (Insert mimed vomiting actions, here.) For me, the appeal of the film had no...