G.G. Andrew's Blog, page 10

CRAZY, SEXY, GHOULISH Out!

I’m thrilled to announce that my New Adult romantic comedy novella, CRAZY, SEXY, GHOULISH: A HALLOWEEN ROMANCE, is now available!

A zombie. A vampire. A witch. Nora Travers is none of these things.

But the former mean girl has to hide behind costumes if she wants to scare the pants off Brendan, the horror geek with the power to make or break her haunted house. Because Brendan is the nerd Nora used to torment in middle school. But now he’s all grown up and so scary hot, even her zombie heart starts beating.

And he’s looking a bit too long at her bloody fishnet stockings.

Nora has to be everything she’s not this Halloween so she can hide her true self and terrify Brendan. Not to mention protect her heart.

Because what happens when he realizes she’s a monster behind the mask?

~

You can click here for an excerpt of the novella–or, better yet, go listen to the excerpt read aloud by the wonderful Betsy Talbot  during the latest episode of the Quickie Romance Podcast. I’ve dug listening to this new podcast that gives you a quick, ten-minute sample of a current romance novel along with interesting facts about the author, and I am so happy to be featured on it…especially since it required the host to do a zombie voice.

CRAZY, SEXY, GHOULISH is free until early October at all sellers except for Amazon (and my fingers are tightly crossed that Amazon will price-match soon; in the meantime, Kindle users can get a .mobi file that will work at Smashwords), so grab a copy at your favorite store below before they run out. (That’s something that happens, right?)

Get it Now!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

Kobo

Smashwords

Tags:  Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Betsy Talbot, bloody fishnet stockings, books, costumes, Crazy Sexy Ghoulish, free story, geek romance, gothic, Halloween, Halloween romance, haunted house, horror, horror geek, iTunes, Kobo, Monsters, nerd, nerd romance, novella, Quickie Romance Podcast, romance, romantic comedy, Smashwords, vampire, witch, writing, zombie




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Comments:  0 (Zero), Be the first to leave a reply!You might be interested in this:  
 Writers Who Read: Gabrielle Selz  SCREWING MR. MELTY Cover & Teaser!  What's Your Book Diet?  Writers Who Read: Heidi Hutner  New Year, New WordCopyright © G. G. Andrew [CRAZY, SEXY, GHOULISH Out!], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writers Who Read: Jason M. Hough

The Writers Who Read series continues this week with Jason M. Hough.

Who are you?

I’m Jason M. Hough, author of ZERO WORLD and THE DARWIN ELEVATOR.

Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?

The first book I can remember picking up on my own and enjoying was Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks, back in the mid-80’s.  Right around that time I also read Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, and let’s just say I was off to the races with both Fantasy and Sci-fi.

Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?

To be honest I’m not that much of a purist when it comes to reading versus other mediums. I enjoy books, television, movies, games, and everything in between. I try to keep pretty well-rounded on all these, so I’m always switching between them. I read for work a lot, as editors send me books to possibly provide a cover quote for.  My kids, who are quite young, prevent me from getting much time to actually sit and read for pleasure these days, however, so I listen to audiobooks whenever I’m driving or doing chores.

Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?

Guy Gavriel Kay is, I think, the only author I auto-buy.  I just love losing myself in his stories, his language, and his characters. There have been other authors who have come and gone from this auto-buy category, but Guy is the one who has been there consistently since I read The Summer Tree back in 1989 or so.

What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading?

Isn’t kryptonite the thing Superman wants to avoid at all costs?  Sorry, I’m being pedantic!  I think you mean something more like catnip.  My reading is all over the map, so I don’t think there’s a specific thing I’m drawn to.  As long as something is well-paced and unpredictable, it doesn’t really matter to me what the genre or setting is.

What is your ideal time and place to read?

Oh, I wish I had such luxury! Before kids it would be just before bed, in a comfy-but-not-too-comfy chair. Now, I think listening to an audiobook while taking the dog for a walk is the best reading time I get.

Are you a re-reader? Why or why not?

Not too much. Mostly because I just don’t have time. As an author I keep meeting other authors, and always want to read at least one thing by them.  Which these days means I’m often reading the first book in some series before I have to move on to someone else. Re-reading the same book? I only do that occasionally, usually for research or just for the comfort. It’s a rare treat when it happens!

Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?

I suppose I have to say John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, because it’s what got me back into sci-fi and made me want to write. However I think everything I read influences me to some extent.

What makes a book a satisfying read for you?

There’s lots of things.  A great setting or world, great dialog, a clever mechanic.  But the one consistent thing for me is pace.

What are you reading right now?

I’m reading Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore, and Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley Beaulieu, both of which are excellent!

Thanks for having me on the blog!

Jason M. Hough (pronounced ‘Huff’) is the New York Times bestselling author of The Dire Earth Cycle and the futuristic thriller Zero World. In a former life he was a 3D artist, animator, and game designer. He has also worked in the fields of high-performance cluster computing and machine learning.

Web: http://www.jasonhough.com

Twitter: @JasonMHough

Books: http://www.jasonhough.com/books/index.html

Tags:  Arthur C. Clarke, audiobooks, books, Bradley Beaulieu, Dead Things, fantasy, games, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jason M. Hough, John Scalzi's Old Man's War, kryptonite vs. catnip, movies, pacing, reading, Rendevous with Rama, rereading, science fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Who Read, Stephen Blackmoore, Superman, Sword of Shannara, television, Terry Brooks, THE DARWIN ELEVATOR, The Summer Tree, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai, Writers Who Read, ZERO WORLD




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 Why We Read What We Read  Best Winter Romances on Netflix Instant  Top Ten Romance Releases in 2014  Writers Who Read: Clea Simon  Writers Who Read: Amy ThomasCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writers Who Read: Jason M. Hough], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writers Who Read: Daniel Hales

The Writers Who Read series continues this week with Daniel Hales.

Who are you?

A writer, musician, collagist, teacher, kayaker, salsa junkie. I’m the author of Tempo Maps, a poetry chapbook with the companion CD: Miner Street Symphony (ixnay press). My poems, flash fictions, and hybrid writings have appeared in many places in print and in the aether, including Verse Daily, Conduit, H_NGM_N, Sentence, Quarter After Eight, and Booth. I’ve released three eps with The Ambiguities and three albums with The Frost Heaves, most recently Contrariwise: Songs From Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.

Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?

Like so many young readers of my generation, The Chronicles of Narnia was the first series I totally immersed myself in. I’ve been looking for secret portals into alternate dimensions ever since.

Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?

Books are richer in detail and description and, simultaneously, more open to “audience participation” than films. Film is such a powerful sensory-saturating medium, it can be hard to separate how you see the characters and settings from the way they’re depicted on the screen. Books demand more of you, require more effort and imagination, but the payoff is bigger if you rise to the occasion.

Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?

I have to confess that I rarely buy new books, even new releases that I’m excited about. My preferred book-buying experience is excavating funky used bookstores, preferably with big, eclectic poetry sections. I do the most book-buying when I go on sacred pilgrimages to odd and awesome bookstores around the world. If I spot a book I don’t have by Italo Calvino, Denis Johnson, Fernando Pessoa, Dean Young, or Russell Edson, it’s an autobuy.

What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading?

Settings: places I’ve lived, places I’d like to live, extreme places, unlikely or impossible places, any setting that is richly evoked. Tropes: Ninjas disguised as chimney sweeps in Dickensian England, recluses in submarines, beloved cats who murder their people, kids lost in labyrinths, taco stands that appear at will, competing rock bands stranded on a desert island. Characters: dreamers, losers, loners, misanthropes, musicians, rebels, risk-takers, seekers, hot air balloon smugglers, self-doubting wizards.

Are you a re-reader?

Yes, especially of favorite books of poetry. I keep coming back to those. There are Stevens, Pessoa, Rilke, Whitman, Dickinson, Pavese, and Dylan Thomas poems that I re-read every few years. I’ve re-read my favorite stories in Nabokov’s Dozen, Stanford’s Conditions Uncertain and Likely To Pass Away, Borges’ Labyrinths, Saunders’ Civil War Land In Bad Decline, and Johnson’s Jesus’ Son many times. My most fun reread of the summer was Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, which I found twice as beautiful and fantastic the second time.

What is your ideal time and place to read?

All times of day are good for different reasons, but in the afternoon I seem to have the most focus. Reading outside in hammocks or beach chairs is preferable, when the temperature of the world permits it. With a cat on the couch otherwise.

Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?

See my list of favorite books of prose poetry. Also, Another Republic edited by Charles Simic and Mark Strand, Wallace Stevens’ Harmonium, James Tate’s Worshipful Company of Fletchers, Dean Young’s Strike Anywhere, Lawrence Raab’s Mysteries of the Horizon, Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

What makes a book a satisfying read?

The sense that the writer was having fun and making discoveries along the way. When a book promises a lot and delivers. The right balance of abundance and concision, extravagance and restraint, just the right amount of semicolons and Oxford commas. A writer who is in love with language, danger, and the sensual world. Believable characters, settings that are characters in the book, not to mention ambient music, a beer, and a sandwich while reading.

What are you reading right now?

Books I’m currently reading or have recently finished: Sleeping It Off In Rapid City by August Kleinzahler, After I Was Dead by Laura Mullen, Exile On Main Street by Bill Janovitz (33 1/3 series), Get In Trouble by Kelly Link, Dr. Strange: The Oath by Brian Vaughan and Marcos Martin, and Sunblind Almost Motorcrash by Daniel Mahoney. This is an incredibly fun book of reviews for fictitious bands in various sub-sub-sub-genres of music. Dan asked various musicians to write and records songs pretending to be these imaginary bands and Spork Press released a companion cassette. I became the band Umbral, and had so much fun recording my song “Dawn Undecides,” that I’ve continued recording as Umbral. I hope to have the first Umbral album finished before the year’s out. In the meantime, Mahoney and I are in the process of organizing a fall reading tour in New England. We’ll both read our own poems, and I’ll accompany him with Umbral drones and ditties while he reads.

~

Daniel Hales is the author of Tempo Maps.  Tempo Maps, comprised mostly of prose poems, is a tough book to pin down, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have fun trying. Longer than a chapbook, but not quite long enough to be a full-length volume, attempts to map its tempos are further complicated by its 2 covers, 2 possible points of entry, 2 alternate beginnings and ends, 2 equally correct orientations. Tempo Maps also comes with a companion CD comprised of 46 tracks: Hales reading the poems, instrumental interludes, and a long piece called the Miner Street Symphony. You can order it by emailing Daniel at: selahsongs@hotmail.com.

Tags:  After I Was Dead, Another Republic, August Kleinzahler, Bill Janovitz, Brian Vaughan, C.S. Lewis, cats, Charles Simic, Civil War Land in Bad Decline, collagist, Conditions Uncertain and Likely to Pass Away, Daniel Hales, Daniel Mahoney, Dean Young, Denis Johnson, Dickensian England, Dozen, Dr. Strange: The Oath, Dylan Thomas, Emily Dickinson, Exile On Main Street, Fernando Pessoa, Get In Trouble, Harmonium, hot air balloon smugglers, Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino, ixnay press, James Tate, Jesus' Son, kayaker, Kelly Link, labyrinths, Laura Mullen, Lawrence Raab, Leaves of Grass, Marcos Martin, Mark Strand, music, musician, Mysteries of the Horizon, ninjas, poems, poetry, Poets Who Read, Rilke, rock bands, Russell Edson, salsa, secret portals, Sleeping It Off In Rapid City, Strike Anywhere, Sunblind Almost Motorcrash, taco stands that appear at will, teacher, Tempo Maps, The Ambiguities, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Frost Heaves, Umbral, Wallace Stevens, Walt Whitman, Worshipful Company of Fletchers, Writers Who Read




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 Writers Who Read: Scariest Stories Ever  Writers Who Read: Désireé Zamorano  Thoughts on Horror & Story While Watching THE BABADOOK  Romance Heroines We Love  Exploring an Undiscovered CountryCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writers Who Read: Daniel Hales], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Sex Danger: Six Things on IT FOLLOWS

Photo via IMDB.

Horror season is nigh, and along with my steady diet of rom-coms, I’ve started watching more scary movies.

This week I viewed IT FOLLOWS, which is a cross between THE RING and a bad afterschool special: A girl, Jay (Maika Monroe), finds herself being followed by a shape-shifting monster after having sex. If she wants to lose the monster, she’s got to have sex and pass it on–and hope that person doesn’t die. To make matters worse (better?), she’s surrounded by a closeknit group of her sister, friends, and neighbors, and there’s sexual tension between various members of the group.

Six thoughts I had while watching the film:

1. This movie is terrifying all the more because it feels so real. It’s set in the suburbs, with lawns and people I recognized–not slick characters or quirky types. This street could’ve been the one I grew up on. I could’ve known that guy.

2. The sex in the film is very real, too. It’s not glamorous or particularly titillating. It feels authentic, and there’s a strong sense of seriousness about the act, owning to how it’s functioning in the movie as a defensive maneuver for Jay and others: it’s something you do to make the boogie man go away.

3. The sexually-transmitted monster can transform into any body: an old lady limping toward you, a naked man standing on your rooftop, your best friend. It can disturb in its alienness as much as it disturbs in its familiarity. It can represent different things.

4. The creature is also only seen by its victims. Jay can see it, and so can Hugh, the boy who gave her the monster. But to the rest of the world it’s invisible. This adds a twist of madness to the terror of the victim. Is there really no one there? What if no one believes them?

5. It many ways, this story is the ultimate anti-romance: two people get together, and A Bad Thing Happens. Keep having sex, and the badness spreads. Sex is dangerous. It causes you fear, pain–even death. But you can’t stop.

6. Jay’s friend Paul (Keir Gilchrist) has a crush on her throughout the movie. At times I thought of him as alternately pathetic and brave, because even when he fully believed she had a sexually-transmitted monster, he still wanted to have sex with her. Or maybe he just didn’t want her to have sex with anyone else? Paul’s intentions and arc, and the way Jay responded to him, was one of the biggest surprises of this film.

Tags:  death, fear, film, horror, It Follows, Keir Gilchrist, Maika Monroe, pain, scary movies, sex, sexually-transmitted monsters, suburbs, The Ring




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Comments:  0 (Zero), Be the first to leave a reply!You might be interested in this:  
 Writers Who Read: Nancy Slavin  Constantine Cocktail: The Steamed Demon  Writers Who Read: Amy Thomas  On Writing What People Fear  Thoughts on Horror & Story While Watching THE BABADOOKCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Sex Danger: Six Things on IT FOLLOWS], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writers Who Read: Rebecca Brooks

The Writers Who Read series continues this week with romance author Rebecca Brooks.

Who are you?

I’m Rebecca Brooks! I write contemporary erotic romance about independent women who step out of their lives to try something new. I’m into travel, adventure, small towns in beautiful places, and strong, outdoorsy men with big hearts.

My debut, Above All, is about an artist who runs a campground in the Adirondacks and falls for a younger chef just passing through. My next book, How to Fall, is coming out in November and I can’t wait—it’s set in southern Brazil and features a Chicago math teacher and a sexy Australian screenwriter who are both bent on escaping the past, but find it harder to escape each other.

I just last week sent my agent a brand spankin’ new manuscript called Make Me Stay, set in a fictional ski town in Washington State. I don’t want to say too much about it but I’m so in love with the hero, a former Olympic skier and coach, that I feel terrible for what he has to go through!

Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?

I’ve been reading (and writing) forever, but I didn’t get into romance until more recently. I wrote my dissertation on the romance plot in contemporary feminist utopian and dystopian literature (yep, I got to write about The Hunger Games). As part of my research I read an amazing book by Janice Radway called Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. This was a huge turning point for me. I realized that if I’m interested in opportunities and possibilities for female characters in literature, then romance is an amazingly rich and varied genre to explore (and way more fun that academia).

The first romance novels I read were Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun, Tempted by Megan Hart, and Good Girls Don’t by Victoria Dahl. Needless to say, I became a total convert. After I finished my degree, I didn’t pursue academia and started writing my first romance instead!

Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?

That’s hard because TV has gotten so much better at storytelling over the years, so I can almost kind of justify it as work. But I spend so much time on the computer that sometimes I can’t stand the thought of more time in front of a screen, and that’s when I pick up a book (my kindle screen feels different than a computer, although it’s still a device). I’ll admit that it can be hard to get into a new book instead of pressing play on a favorite show, but if I’m in the middle of a book I can’t put down, then all I’m going to want to do is read.

Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?

I write contemporary erotic and that’s a lot of what I like to read—I mentioned Calhoun and Dahl; another favorite I’m always recommending is Charlotte Stein. But I’m in two romance book clubs in NYC and a lot of what I read is dictated by whatever the groups choose for the month. I ready widely and am incredibly unfaithful—I like to jump around from one thing to the next, and will pick up YA, middle grade, science fiction, literary fiction, classics… you name it. These book clubs expose me to a lot of different things I might not gravitate toward on my own, like paranormal or highlander time travel, for example. I love the experience of trying something new and broadening my tastes.

What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading?

Anything outdoorsy will immediately make me interested, and dynamic, picturesque settings that are central to the story and transport me somewhere beautiful I’d love to be. I go for characters who are competent, humble, and kind—the kinds of people I’d want to drool over myself, or hang out with over a beer.

I can’t stand major clichés, women who are always falling down (literally) and need a man to save them, and alpha men with no character traits beyond washboard abs and some deep dark secret that’s not actually a big deal but nevertheless makes them so brooding that they become mean. (And let’s all agree that “washboard abs” isn’t actually a character trait, ok?)

Here’s one more big thing: since I gravitate toward the erotic, I want my women to be sexually empowered and get what they want. Things don’t always have to go perfectly—this is romance, so they probably won’t! But if the hero is getting his then I want to be damn sure the heroine is satisfied, too.

What is your ideal time and place to read?

I can’t go anywhere without a book, whether it’s a physical copy, my kindle, or something on my phone. I read on the subway, or when I’m waiting around, or any time I can find a few stolen moments during the day. But my ideal spot is in the big comfy chair in my living room that’s under a good light and has a small table next to it—perfect for a drink or cup of tea. In the evenings my husband and I will often sit and read aloud to each other, or read silently to ourselves and then stop and talk about what we’re in the middle of. It’s the best.

Are you a re-reader? Why or why not?

There are so many books that I love and want to go back to re-read, but to be honest it rarely happens because there are so many new books I want to dive into! I’ll re-read if there’s something specific I’m looking for in my writing, like if I want to remind myself how another author tackles a particular problem. But I rarely find myself picking up a book to re-read for pleasure, even though I often tell myself I should because I know I’ll have a different perspective after time has passed.

Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?

Octavia Butler is one of my favorite writers; her essays have been a huge influence in terms of reminding me to persist and keep writing. Likewise, Margaret Atwood is so eclectic, even though I don’t like all of her work I appreciate the reminder not to pigeonhole myself or limit my imagination.

Lastly, Russell Banks’s Lost Memory of Skin was a big “aha” moment for me because it seems like a book that shouldn’t work and that I’d never, ever like—it’s about a sex offender who lives under a causeway in Florida—and yet I couldn’t put it down.

None of these are romance novels, but they’ve all reminded me to be bold, take risks, and not talk myself out of trying something before I’ve found whether or not it might actually work.

Every time I write there are moments when I think, “Can I write this? Can I get away with this? Are people going to tell me I can’t do this?” That voice only gets louder as I’ve gotten deeper into the industry and can hear my agent, my editor, reviewers, and readers in my head. But if it’s true to the story, true to the characters, and it works, then the answer should always be Yes.

What makes a book a satisfying read for you?

I want to feel like the writing is careful and thought through, so not a lot of cliché or repetition or uninspired language, and I want to feel like each character is multidimensional and real. I feel unsatisfied when I close a book and don’t understand why a character does or feels something, or why an event plays out the way that it does. When the character, setting, dialogue, and plot all fit together; when I can’t imagine the story happening any other way; when I feel like I’ve been transported into another person’s consciousness—that’s when I want to linger in the pages and can’t wait to tell everyone about it when I’m done.

What are you reading right now?

Yikes. Well, I just finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen and Afternoon Delight by Anne Calhoun, and now I have no idea what to do next. On the pile next to my bed are: Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marissa Pessl, Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas, Wired for Story by Lisa Cron, Joyland by Stephen King (which a student I mentor said I absolutely have to read), and a stack of Denton Welch books that I can’t remember why I have because I’m probably not going to read them anyway. So! I guess I’ll pick one or two from this list and get cracking.

~

Rebecca Brooks lives in New York City in an apartment filled with books. She received a PhD in English but decided it was more fun to write books than write about them. She has backpacked alone through India and Brazil, traveled by cargo boat down the Amazon River, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, explored ice caves in Peru, trekked to the source of the Ganges, and sunbathed in Burma, but she always likes coming home to a cold beer and her hot husband in the Bronx. Her books are about independent women who leave their old lives behind in order to try something new—and find the passion, excitement, and purpose they didn’t even know they’d been missing. You can find her at her website and on Twitter and Facebook.

Want to read more interviews with romance writers who read? Click here.

Tags:  Above All, academia, Adirondacks, Afternoon Delight, Again the Magic, Anne Calhoun, Australian, book clubs, Charlotte Stein, Chicago, contemporary erotic romance, dissertation, dystopian, feminism, Freedom, Good Girls Don't, highlander time travel romance, How to Fall, Janice Radway, Jonathan Franzen, Joyland, Liberating Lacey, Lisa Cron, Lisa Kleypas, literary fiction, Lost Memory of Skin, Make Me Stay, Margaret Atwood, Marissa Pessl, math teacer, Megan Hart, middle grade, Octavia Butler, outdoors, paranormal romance, Reading the Romance, Rebecca Brooks, Romance Writers Who Read, Russell Banks, science fiction, screenwriter, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Stephen King, Tempted, utopian, Victoria Dahl, Wired for Story, Writers Who Read, YA




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 Introducing the Writers Who Read Series  Writers Who Read: Chrissy Kolaya  Writers Who Read: Tanya Selvaratnam  New Year, New Word  Writers Who Read: Eddy WebbCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writers Who Read: Rebecca Brooks], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writers Who Read: Devi Lockwood

The Writers Who Read series continues this week with Devi Lockwood. Welcome, Devi!

Who are you?

Devi K. Lockwood. I’m a poet / touring cyclist / storyteller from Boston, currently traveling around the world by bicycle to collect 1001 stories from people I meet about water and/or climate change. As I write this I’m in Wooloweyah, NSW, Australia, taking a break from the bicycle to learn how to surf and skateboard.

Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?

I first fell in love with a poem––”Zinnias” by Valerie Worth.

Zinnias

Zinnias, stout and stiff,

Stand no nonsense: their colors

Stare, their leaves

Grow straight out, their petals

Jut like clipped cardboard,

Round, in neat flat rings.

Even cut and bunched

Arranged to please us

In the house, in the water, they

Will hardly wilt––I know

Someone like zinnias: I wish

I were like zinnias.

~

I must have found the poem on my teacher’s bookshelf in the third grade. I remember thinking to myself wow, words can do that?! And then, I want to write like that.

Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?

The only Netflix show I watch is Orange is the New Black, which makes it super-easy to resist that particular addiction! There is some great storytelling in television, but to be honest I don’t like sitting still for the length of an entire movie or episode. Plus, books are about a million more times practical for my lifestyle than TV shows. I like that I can leave off and pick up a story at any time, regardless of whether or not there’s Wifi. Reading, for me, is relaxing. I read most nights before I get to bed. When I’m stealth camping in the bush alone, there’s nothing like opening up a good book to make me feel relaxed and centered before sleep.

Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?

Mary Oliver’s poetry speaks a kind of truth that I can come back to again and again and always get something different. Adrienne Rich is more academic in her writing––I love to read her poems aloud and dream. Neil Gaiman writes stunning stories that stick to the inside of my ribs. Sharon Creech’s narratives wove through my childhood as an early reader and stick with me still. I love her mode of storytelling and would read anything she writes.

What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading?

I like stories that deal with both an external and an internal landscape in a non-glossy way. I fall and get back up. I like characters who do the same. Travel is a plus. Quest narratives with female leads are my kryptonite.

What is your ideal time and place to read?

Snuggled in my down sleeping bag having just boiled water for a mug of tea, readying myself for a night of sleeping outside in my tent.

Are you a re-reader? Why or why not?

Only sometimes. I like to wait a long time before rereading a story so that I have forgotten.

I recently reread Garth Nix’s The Old Kingdom Series that I loved when I was younger. The same goes for Sharon Creech’s Bloomability. I could read that book 100 times, but I have only read it three times. There is so much good writing out there that I want to make sure I am constantly widening the scope of voices that make it into my life.

Poems are the exception. I find that the more times I read a collection, the more I get out of it. Poems are magic like that — they morph to show their many truths depending on what I bring to the table each time I open the slim volume. At the moment I’m rereading Jorie Graham’s Sea Change.

Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?

Maggie Nelson’s Bluets.

Adrienne Rich’s The Dream of a Common Language.

Anna Deavere Smith’s Letters to a Young Artist.

What makes a book a satisfying read for you?

I studied Folklore & Mythology at university. I am fascinated by the intersection between poetry and storytelling. When a writer’s words and sentences flow together and make something bigger than themselves––when the writing matters, somehow––I am satisfied. I like writing that guides me but also lets me bring my own story to the table.

What are you reading right now?

I just finished My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman––what a beautiful story! Right now I’m in the middle of The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison.

Devi K. Lockwood is a poet / touring cyclist / storyteller from Boston, currently traveling the world by bicycle to collect 1001 stories from people she meets about water and/or climate change. You can keep up to date with her travels at http://www.onebikeoneyear.wordpress.com, on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Tags:  Adrienne Rich, Anna Deavere Smith, bicyclist, Bloomability, Bluets, Boston, climate change, Devi Lockwood, folklore, Fredrik Backman, Garth Nix, Jorie Graham, Leslie Jamison, Letters to a Young Artist, Maggie Nelson, Mary Oliver, My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, mythology, Neil Gaiman, nonfiction, Nonfiction Writers Who Read, Orange is the New Black, poetry, Poets Who Read, Sea Change, Sharon Creech, The Dream of a Common Language, The Empathy Exams, Valerie Worth, water, Writers Who Read, Zinnias




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 The Method in the Monster  Writers Who Read: Most Romantic Stories  Writers Who Read: Rita Arens  Blog Hop: My Writing Process  10 Weird Things on Screwing Mr. MeltyCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writers Who Read: Devi Lockwood], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writing by Rom-Com: Old Fashioned

Resurrecting the writing series I started last winter, I’ve begun watching more romance films

Photo via IMDB.

with an eye to seeing what they can teach me about writing a good love story.

Recently I saw Old Fashioned, a sweet inspirational tale about a quiet guy who doesn’t believe in dating or even kissing before marriage and a carefree woman who thinks that’s kind of crazy. But she winds up settling in his small town and renting the apartment above his antique shop, and–well, you know how these things go.

What did it teach me about how to write (or not) a compelling romance? Three things:

Lesson One: Build a world. Yes, even if it’s not a fantasy.

Even in a story without speculative elements, world-building is so important. Old Fashioned does a great job of showing this. Set in a small town, its setting mirrors the attitudes of the hero Clay (Rik Swartzwelder). When Amber (Elizabeth Roberts) rents his apartment, she finds a rotary phone and a big, old-timey fridge. She listens to the radio, as do others in town. The theme of old-fashioned ideals and courtship is enriched and made cohesive by these elements, which reminds me to make my own stories richly woven with setting and theme, in large and small ways.

Lesson Two: Use foils to emphasize character traits.

Clay’s friend in the film is radio shock jock Brad (Tyler Hollinger), who calls women stupid and asks their weight on the air. Without him in the movie, we might’ve been tempted to see Clay’s beliefs and behavior as weird and off-putting, but against Brad’s over-the-top behavior, we see the appeal of a quieter, steadier guy. (Though many women might’ve opted to look behind Door C.) Foil characters like this serve to highlight differences, and this is good to remember in fiction, particularly when writing a character with an extreme personality or beliefs. In Old Fashioned, it was a way of pointing out the benefits of a man like Clay.

Lesson Three: Make the ultimate pairing the steamiest. Even when it’s clean.

Here’s where Old Fashioned struggled for me. Near the climax of the story, after the two leads fight, they are both faced with the temptations of other romantic partners. But during these scenes, we see Clay in particular in an intense, physical closeness with a woman that’s not Amber. Even though these scenes are meant to be shown as unhealthy, this physical intensity somewhat overshadows the sweetness of the Amber/Clay scenes, and as a result left me a little cold at the end. I’ve seen this before, too: movies that show sexy scenes of ill-advised ex hookups or bad boyfriends, but without the final couple having an equal or steamier moment. Writing scenes with old lovers and potential partners can show character development, but these scenes shouldn’t undermine the intensity of the ultimate love connection.

Watch this space, because I’ll be sharing more Writing by Rom-Com reviews soon from a wide-range of films!

 

 

 

Tags:  Elizabeth Roberts, film, IMDB, inspirational romance, movie, Old Fashioned, Rik Swartzwelder, rom-com, Tyler Hollinger, Writing by Rom-Com




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 Writers Who Read: Kelly Ann Jacobson  Top 10 Ways to Use Twitter Without Losing Your Soul  Writers Who Read: Karen Skolfield  Writers Who Read: Mick Harris  The 10 Best Fall Entertainment ReleasesCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writing by Rom-Com: Old Fashioned], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writers Who Read: Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae

 

The Writers Who Read series continues this week with writing team Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae.

Who are you?

We are Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae, and we’re a cowriting team of awesome. Together, we write the gay romance series Love in Los Angeles (Torquere Press), set in the film and television industry, and Love’s Labours (Dreamspinner Press), set in the theater world.  We have stories out in several anthologies, and are currently working on a number of projects featuring everything from spies to faeries to royals to demons.

Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?

Erin: For me it was the Little House books. I made my mom reread them to me until the covers fell off, and then once I was old enough to read myself, I took over and basically destroyed what was left of them. I loved the immersion into another life and another world. Also, I really wanted a sunbonnet.

Racheline: My primary school had a massive book fair every year, where we had to buy the many many books on our summer reading lists that we had tests on during the first week of school, but there were also fun things to buy. I was a precocious reader but wasn’t really into reading until I was 12 and a friend dared me to read The Vampire Lestat because we found it on the table for the older students and she knew I was afraid of vampires. That was the first time I read something that lingered with me, that made me feel like I was someone other than who I was, like the book knew the truth about me that no one else did.

Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?

Erin: Basically travel. Most of my reading these days, I do at the airport or on a train. I love TV as a storytelling medium, and usually watch an episode or two a day of something with my partner, usually over dinner. But carving out time for reading is harder. I wish I did more, but there’s always one more thing I want to write first — or a nap I need to have!

Racheline: In a lot of ways, TV can be my medium of choice, but reading feels so much more private and intimate. I also can be easily overwhelmed by sensory input, so for me reading is always about needing to be soothed, and needing to take the rest of the world away. TV can be multitasked, books can’t.

Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?

Erin: Neal Stephenson. I don’t even read the blurbs of his stories before I start reading them — I know I’m in for a solid ride, and I love going into his worlds cold and watching them unfold.

Racheline: Steve Erickson. Lucie Brock-Broido. Elizabeth Hand. Ellen Kushner (which is probably cheating to answer with because we’re actually working on a project together right now, but it’s been true for years prior to this opportunity).

What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading? (Ex. Other writers have mentioned things like being drawn to reading about dead bodies in ponds or erstwhile rivals teaming up.)

Erin: It’s funny that “dead bodies in ponds” was an example kryptonite given. I grew up in a house in the swamp where Arthur Shawcross, the Genesee River Killer, dumped the bodies of his victims. True story. That said, I am a huge sucker for behind the scenes stories. Whether it’s something like The West Wing, which is backstage to the machinery of American politics, or Noises Off which is a hilarious farce that takes place, literally, backstage to a play, I love stories about everything happening behind the formal façade.

Racheline: Backstage stories are the thing that brings Erin and I together.  I’m also always desperately interested in narratives about class differences and about passing, just because of my own experiences.  I’m also really driven by newness of experience for the characters in a story — obviously, tons of romance hits that button, but tons of other things do too.

What is your ideal time and place to read?

Erin: I feel like I should say “On the couch, curled up with a mug of tea and a cat while it rains outside.” But I think the answer actually is, in the little moments: on the train, in between meetings, waiting for the light to change. I savor stories more in those little stolen moments than I do when I get a whole afternoon to devote to a book.

Racheline: I don’t think I get to have ideal reading moments.  For me, it’s always in transit. I travel a lot internationally, so often my TBR pile is only addressed before I’m about to do another 6 – 8 hours east or west for work. There was a three month period in my life a few years ago where I was on another international flight every three days for two months. That was good for reading; I’d also really prefer never to do that again.

Are you a re-reader? Why or why not?

Erin: Voracious re-reader here. I love the experience of stories — not just finding out what happens, but sinking into a world I love and staying there. I keep a tally in my most re-read books (Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter among them) to keep track.

Racheline: Books are talismans for me. I’ve reread some things until they’ve split into fragments and been held together with rubber bands.

Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?

Erin: Lucy Maude Montgomery’s stories. Not so much in style, and I rarely write as sweetly, but her Anne books put people and relationships — friendships as well as romantic entanglements — front and center, and really taught me how people’s everyday lives and struggles make very good stories indeed.

Racheline: I really, really love the work of Annie Ernaux, who is a French author of personal essay. I’ve read some of it in the original language, but my French isn’t good enough to claim influence from anything but the English translations.  It’s very poetic and her work understands the power of generalizations — it’s like the difference between “My mother never loved me” and “Sometimes, I think my mother never loved me.” Ernaux makes her choices on which to use when very clearly, and I’ve found it helpful. Her work is also profoundly driven by cadence.  I’m always writing to sound.  So that’s key for me.

What makes a book a satisfying read for you?

Racheline: The characters for me. Again, my life comes back to airplanes.  Is there someone in a book that I wish could hold my hand when the plane takes off?

Erin: Depends on the genre. If it’s non-fiction, or history, I want a narrative to make sense of the world, even if it’s not one I agree with. If it’s fiction, I want complex relationships and character development.

What are you reading right now?

Racheline: Graveyard Sparrow by Kayla Bashe.  It’s a lesbian YA steampunk mystery.

Erin: Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, by Karen Abbott. It’s about four women undercover during the American Civil War.

~

Erin McRae is a queer writer and blogger based in Washington, D.C. She has a master’s degree in International Affairs from American University, and delights in applying her knowledge of international relations theory to her fiction and screen-based projects, because conflict drives narrative.

Racheline Maltese lives a big life from a small space. She flies planes, sails boats, and rides horses, but as a native New Yorker has no idea how to drive a car. A long-time entertainment and media industry professional, she lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their two cats.

Together, they are co-authors of the gay romance series Love in Los Angeles, set in the film and television industry — Starling (September 10, 2014), Doves (January 21, 2015), and Phoenix (June 10, 2015) — from Torquere Press. Their gay romance novella series Love’s Labours, set in the theater world — Midsummer (May 2015), and Twelfth Night (Fall 2015), is from Dreamspinner Press. They also have a story in Best Gay Romance 2015 from Cleis Press and edited by Felice Picano. You can find them on the web at http://www.Avian30.com.

Joint Blog

Joint Facebook Page

Erin’s Twitter

Racheline’s Twitter

Erin’s Goodreads

Racheline’s Goodreads

Erin’s Amazon Author Page

Racheline’s Amazon Author Page

Tags:  Annie Emaux, backstage stories, book fairs, books, class differences, demons, Dreamspinner Press, Elizabeth Hand, Ellen Kushner, Erin McRae, faeries, gay rommance, Graveyard Sparrow, Harry Potter, international travel, Liar Temptress Soldier Spy, Little House on the Prairie, Lord of the Rings, Love in Los Angeles, Love's Labours, Lucie Brock-Broido, Lucy Maude Montgomery, Neal Stephenson, Noises Off, Racheline Maltese, reading, rereading, romance, Romance Writers Who Read, spies, steampunk, Steve Erickson, summer reading lists, television, The Vampire Lestat, The West Wing, Torquere Press, travel, Writers Who Read




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Comments:  0 (Zero), Be the first to leave a reply!You might be interested in this:  
 Girl B Bites It: A Horror Trope That Needs to Die  How Do You Choose What to Read?  Writers Who Read: Andi Cumbo-Floyd  Mr. Melty Curried Carrot Concoction  My Wild Wish ListCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writers Who Read: Racheline Maltese and Erin McRae], All Right Reserved. 2015.

Writers Who Read: Eddy Webb

The Writers Who Read series is back! Joining us for the new interview is Eddy Webb.

Who are you?

My name is Eddy Webb, and my job description is… complicated. These days I’m a freelance writer and game designer working in fiction, non-fiction, role-playing games, and video games, sometimes all in the same day! I’ve written everything from short stories about uplifted dogs trying to survive on a deserted world, to a book of slightly unhinged rants about people’s misperceptions of the original Sherlock Holmes stories, to the sales text on the back of game boxes. But throughout my life I always go back to stories, whether it’s writing them, writing about them, or helping other people tell them.

Which book or series was your gateway into the world of reading?

The Sherlock Holmes stories, without a doubt. My grandfather gave me a beat-up volume of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, and right away I was hooked on them. While I love stories of a variety of lengths, short fiction has always had an urgency that I’ve been drawn to.

Nowadays, what makes you crack open a book instead of pressing play on your favorite Netflix show?

I love to read when I want to be drawn into a story. I’ve watched a lot of Netflix, but it’s nearly always on in the background as I work or do something else in the living room. But a book can’t really be multi-tasked: you need to focus, and that adds a level of immersion and personal investment in the story.

Which authors are auto-buys for you? Why?

Most of my favorite authors have long since passed away, but Chuck Wendig is one of my favorite authors right now, period. For a while I thought I was biased, since he’s a friend of mine and I’ve previously worked with him on some projects, but over the years I’ve found that his voice and style of storytelling really draws me in. I actually have a half-dozen of his books that I’ve just bought because they have his name, but I haven’t gotten around to reading them yet! Also, Jim Butcher. I’ve been reading his Dresden Files series for over a decade now, and it’s the only book series that I read from year to year religiously.

What is your book kryptonite–those unique settings, tropes, or character types that make you unable to resist reading?

Complexity of character. If I think I know what the characters are all about and where they’re going, I get bored quickly. But if there’s something about the character that makes me wonder, or if they do something surprising that turns out to make perfect sense, I’m hooked. I want to know more about that character.

What is your ideal time and place to read?

These days my wife and I read in bed with our iPads — it’s usually the only time I have to read for fun anymore! But once in a while I’m able to snatch a lazy Sunday afternoon where I can sit on the couch with a mug of tea and get lost for an hour or so. That’s wonderful.

Are you a re-reader? Why or why not?

For years I actually felt guilty about re-reading. There are so many other books in the world to read! Why read something I’ve read before? But I’ve found that not only is there a comfort in reading something that I know I love, but also I can find new elements and aspects of the story that I missed last time. I must have read the Sherlock Holmes stories a dozen times in my life. But as a general rule, I do prefer new books over old ones, and a lot of times I’ll pass books I’ve read on to friends and family that I think will like them, instead of keeping them in case I read them again.

Which books have had the biggest influence on your writing?

Surprisingly, it’s only been the past few years that Victorian fiction has influenced my own style. Before that, books like The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett and The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler were very influential. The economy of prose and multiple layers of dialogue and description are still wonderful to me.

What makes a book a satisfying read for you?

It’s a tricky balance of knowing where things are going and being surprised by the result. If I’m lost, or if everything is too obvious, I lose interest. But if the characters are compelling, and if things look inevitable but turn out to be different than anticipated, I’m very satisfied by the result.

What are you reading right now?

Right now I’m reading a book on video game narrative for review, but before that I was reading some old Conan stories by Robert E. Howard. I came to Howard late in my life, but elements of his writing style remind me of Chandler, and I’m finding it fascinating to read fantasy stories before readers and writers developed this very rigid definition of what “fantasy” means.

~

Eddy Webb (with a “y,” thank you) is a freelance writer, designer, producer, and consultant for video games and RPGs. He has worked on over a hundred products, including providing creative vision for properties such as Vampire: The Masquerade and the interactive audio drama Codename Cygnus. His work spans over a decade and across dozens of respected companies, and he’s even won a few awards along the way. Today he lives a sitcom life in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife, his roommate, and an affably stupid pug. More information and mad ramblings about Sherlock Holmes can be found at eddyfate.com.

Book links:

Watson Is Not An Idiot: An Opinionated Tour of the Sherlock Holmes Canon

Sojourn, Volume 2 (featuring my story “The Winter of Man”)

Tags:  character, character complexity, Chuck Wendig, , Dashiell Hammett, Dresden Files, ebooks, Eddy Webb, ereading, freelance writer, game designer, iPad, Jim Butcher, Netflix, Nonfiction Writers Who Read, Raymond Chandler, Robert E. Howard, role-playing games, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Who Read, Sherlock Holmes, short stories, tea, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Vampire: The Masquerade, Victorian literature, video game narration, Writers Who Read




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 Writers Who Read: Marly Youmans  What Does It Mean When We Read a Book Fast?  SCREWING MR. MELTY Cover & Teaser!  Writers Who Read: Most Romantic Stories  Writers Who Read: Laura MadelineCopyright © G. G. Andrew [Writers Who Read: Eddy Webb], All Right Reserved. 2015.

I don’t know how many books I’ve read. I blame comics.

I’ve been keeping track of all the books I’ve read for the past five years on a Google spreadsheet. It’s allowed me to record what I’ve read, when, and what I thought about it, not to mention other categories that aren’t tracked on reading sites like Goodreads: whether a story is self-published for instance, or if I read it for book club. Beyond those practical uses, I’ve always been drawn to analyzing my habits, reading and otherwise. I love a good pie chart as much as pie itself.

I started the spreadsheet in 2010, which seems about right: 2009 would’ve been too early, 2011 twelve months too late. My spreadsheet has columns and rows, a box for mini-reviews, and a way to color-code those books I’m currently reading. It’s organized. I can see how many books I’ve read in a given year, and how many of those were fantasy novels, self-published, or penned by women.

I’d set a goal to completely read 50 books this year, and I was trucking along.

But.

But in the past year my spreadsheet has failed me. Or I’ve failed it. Or reading and stories have been changing and these sorts of things are no longer accurate or useful.

Especially since I started reading a lot of romance, I noticed I was reading shorter books and novellas. And that was fine. Novellas are nearly book-sized. But then I started reading comics. I read the first three volumes of Saga in an entire weekend, which I tracked as all one book in my spreadsheet. But then came the single issue of Howard the Duck I thumbed through. Since it took half an hour to read, should I count it on the chart? I started beta-reading more short stories too, and I’d often group them together in threes on my chart, because together maybe they were at least novella-sized. But then others were one-offs I charted alone. They counted as separate entries on my Goodreads book challenge, which helped me at least move towards my goal.

Now, in summer 2015, I’ve either read 55 books or 28 or maybe 25.44, depending on how you count. Does it matter? Not really. But I like to chart my books, and I like to set challenges–to assure I’m reading, for pleasure and my own writing growth.

Maybe I should set a new goal: 50 different authors a year. That seems doable, and definitely more chartable.

Tags:  beta reading, book challenges, book club, books, comics, Goodreads, Howard the Duck, novellas, pie, pie charts, reading, romance, Saga, short stories, spreadsheets, TBR




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Comments:  1 (One) on this itemYou might be interested in this:  
 Reading: To Plan or Not to Plan?  Writers Who Read: Abby Chew  How To Choose What to Write Next  Constantine Cocktail: The Steamed Demon  Reductress ArticlesCopyright © G. G. Andrew [I don't know how many books I've read. I blame comics.], All Right Reserved. 2015.