Shiloh Walker's Blog, page 144
July 29, 2011
Friday 56 and last week's winner
It's Friday again, YAY! This week, I managed to luck out and find a copy of Thea Harrison's Storm's Heart on shelf early. It's the second book in her Elder Races series. I LOVED Dragon Bound and am devouring this one *G*.
"You would feel pretty weak and exhausted for a couple days afterward."
To participate, find the closest (doesn't have to be your current read, just whatever is handy), flip to page 56 and give us the 5th sentence. You're welcome to post a few others around it to give some context if you'd like 
.
Also, winner of last week's Friday 56 giveaway is: Bethany C who gave us this fun quote:
How exciting- "We were shaking hands when a woman came out of the ladies bathroom down the hall." -Frostbitten, Kelley Armstrong
Bethany, please email me your shipping information at grimmhunter.shilohwalker(at) gmail (dot) com. Per the disclaimer, I'm only announcing the winner here and you have 2 weeks to email me or the prize if forfeited. Thanks.
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July 27, 2011
Writer Wednesdays…Luann McLane #WW
Today's Writer Wednesday is with Luann McLane, one of my Vamps & Scamps buddies.
What's the one thing that remains unchanged during your writing process, from one book to another? (ie: Intensive plotting? Music?)
A: I always think that I know where the story is going and the characters always take over and take me places I didn't know I was headed.
What's the one piece of advice you'd give a new writer?
A: Discover your voice… what makes your writing unique. And then *never* give up!
What's the one piece of advice you wish was wiped from the minds of writers everywhere?
A:I am not a fan of critique groups… do not let anyone tell you how to write your story.
What's the one book you think everybody, writer or not, should read?
A: The Rhythm of Life by Matthew Kelly
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July 26, 2011
SocialGood 2011…
Limecello is doing another social good whirlwind on her blog. She's now pushing for 400 comments and the money is going to Africa.
If she hits it, I'm bumping up the amount I'm giving her. And…if you help her hit it, I'll post a nice long excerpt from IF YOU HEAR HER.
Go forth! Comment…here…(Lime's blog, not mine)
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July 25, 2011
"It's a Shiloh Walker…I expected sex…"
There probably aren't as many things that will irritate a writer as somebody 'suggesting' how the writer should tell their stories.
I'm kind of torn between irritation and the desire to laugh over a complaint I've received regarding A FOREVER KIND OF LOVE.
"I expected sex."
Um. Well, nobody promised you'd get it. Not with this book, not with any of my books, really. Yes, some are very erotic. Some, not so much. But I don't care to get pigeon-holed and expected to have hot sex in every story. Basically what that tells me is that I am 'expected' to write a certain type of story, which means apparently 'all' of my stories have to fit a certain type-or I'm supposed to make them fit.
Nooooooo. Sorry, but no. I don't always write hot sex. There may even come times when I don't write straight-on romance. I've got plans and ideas to explore urban fantasy, possibly even fantasy. If I do that, the romance is only going to be a thread, if it's there at all. And sex? Who knows.
As to the sex in my romances, the plain and simple fact is that not every story needs it. And if I go forcing sex into a story just because some people 'expect sex'…well, then I'm doing myself a disservice and I'm doing my readers a disservice, IMO. Forcing sex in where it doesn't belong is short-changing the story. That's gratuitous, plot-less sex and I'm not interested in it.
What's really ironic is the fact this book was straight-out classified as 'sweet contemporary'…it's not listed in the erotic section on the publisher's site, not is it classified as erotic on any of the book seller sites that I know of. So even though I've had more than a few stories that aren't erotic, and even though nothing in the blurb indicates the story was going to be erotic, apparently some people think "a Shiloh Walker will have sex."
No. I'll try to make sure the story is the best I can make it, and I'll try to write a good, solid romance. But there's no guarantee that every 'Shiloh Walker book' is going to have sex. It has what the story calls for.
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July 22, 2011
Friday 56 and a giveaway
Woo hoo, we made it to another Friday!! So, now it's time for some fun and that means Friday 56 
. This week, I have something extra, too…a giveaway, so read to the end *G*.
I glared. "I am not. And you can't possibly know that." –Mac in Faefever by Karen Marie Moning.
**Note this is the 3rd book in the series. Read order is: Darkfever, Bloodfever, Faefever, Dreamfever and Shadowfever
I'll admit, I'm a huge Fever series (helllo JZB!!!) fan. I was lucky enough to come by not one, but 2, HARDBACK copies of Faefever. So, I'm sharing the wealth…and that's what's up for grabs. Entering is easy, just leave me your Friday 56 in the comments. Haven't done it before? Grab the closest (doesn't have to be your current #Fridayreads) book, turn to page 56 and give us the 5th sentence. You can give a few around it, too if you'd like. By entering, you've read the rules and disclaimers for any of mine or Shiloh's contests and agree to abide by the terms. I'll draw a comment at random and post the winner by next Friday here on the blog. Happy reading!
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July 20, 2011
Helping out…Soldier Birthday…
Got this name from Kelly while I was on my trip with my guy…if you have any questions, please check out the soldier FAQ page!
PV2 Seth Adkins
Alpha Company, 3-21 IN, 1-25 SBCT
FOB Zangabad
APO AE 09355
His birthday is August 10th if you do send him a card it should be sent no later than August 1st, its taking about 7 – 10 days to get to the men.
this is one of my sons best friends…he will be turning 20 and is Afghanistan, anyone wanting to send a card or a package would be wonderful!)
Again, if you have questions, please check out the link to the FAQ page. This is all the info I have, and these names come from Kelly, a friend out of Ohio who works directly with a SOS unit there. Names are shared with her permission and if you include an email, don't be surprised if you get a THANK YOU note back!
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Writer Wednesdays…Amy Ruttan (don't mention gorillas)
Today's WW is from my twitter pal, Amy Ruttan. Don't mention gorillas…oh, never mind. I will.
She was asking what would scare a swan (I think it was swans). I told her a gorilla would do the trick. But she said she didn't think gorillas roamed around regency England.
Well. She shoulda been more specific. ;) A gorilla WOULD do it, I bet. Now we tease each about gorillas. I even referenced a gorilla in If You Know Her while thinking of her.
What's the one thing that remains unchanged during your writing process, from one book to another? (ie: Intensive plotting? Music?)
A: Background noise, mostly music playing. I can't write without music. If it's dead silence, I don't write. I need some kind of background clutter to help me focus. I have playlists, lots and lots of playlists for different moods and different manuscripts, so I'm glad MP3s were invented or my house would be filled with CDs.
What's the one piece of advice you'd give a new writer?
A: Always strive to learn new aspects about your craft. It helps keep the Muse, and your writing fresh.
What's the one piece of advice you wish was wiped from the minds of writers everywhere?
A: I think I have to agree with Lynn Viehl about erasing that old saying of write what you know from writer's minds, if I did that my books would be pretty damn boring recitations about the legal system in Canada from a Law Clerk's POV. Don't be afraid to create new worlds, write what excites you. If you love what you write it will shine through.
What's the one book you think everybody, writer or not, should read?
A: The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. He was a master, as was his books.
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July 18, 2011
Conversations with Writer People
Apparently the taunting is just a writer thing.
This was an email discussion with with Nalini…
Me:
okay, so I was saving this for my vacation. I wanted a treat on the drive.
OH MAN. This was AWESOME. I loved it. If you are bribed with chocolate, wine, roses, and books, will you please write Ilium's story? I want Bluebell to have one soooo bad.
Nalini:
Yay, so glad you loved! As for Illium, we shall see
Me:
aaarrrgghhhhh…. Ilium needs happiness. he needs it. and so do we.
cruel, Nalini. So very cruel. I admire that.
Nalini:
She's tormenting me. And she smiles. Sigh.
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July 16, 2011
Saturday Snippet
Wheee…..
So, if my eyes aren't bleeding out of my skull by the time I post this tomorrow, I'm planning on taking the day off. Actually, a few days. I'm taking my kids to the first major comic con in the Louisville area (that I know of) for quite a while. (Maybe ever?)
And after that, on Sunday, taking off with my guy for three days. Our 15th anniversary is coming up and we're taking a couple of days to ourselves.
And I can actually enjoy those days. I made a little more progress to catching up. I just finished a book. It's Grimm # 6- don't wanna discuss the title yet. Too reveal-y. But there's a nice long snippet for a Saturday Snippet. BTW, I have no information about release dates or anything-sorry! I don't even know for sure where this is going. Once I know, I'll let you all know.
~*~
"You can chase death just a little too closely."
Death was no stranger to the Grimm—men and women who dealt with the demons who managed to cross over into the mortal world.
The three men stood there, staring down over the edge of the building into the alley below, watching the bloody, brutal battle taking place. Will—their leader—watched the woman closely. Few others knew him by any other name for him. Their leader was rather closed-mouthed, especially about himself.
"Who is chasing death? Finn?" The blond at Will's side cocked his head as he studied the Grimm with a knack for fire and fondness for firearms. "Or the baby Grimm?"
"Is it hard to figure out, Rob?" Will murmured.
Rob smirked in response.
No. It wasn't hard, not for anybody with eyes. Finn fought like a hellion, but he fought like a hellion with a focus.
The woman, though…
"She doesn't seem to care if she lives or dies," Rob murmured. "As long as she kills things." His eyes—the strangest eyes—glowed red in the dark, a sign that he was either pissed off or amused. Neither boded well. Rob was the dangerous sort when he was pissed. When he was amused. Hell. He was the dangerous sort no matter what.
But he'd been the most dangerous when he'd chasing his own death, hundreds of years earlier.
The other man, Jacob, stood with his hands linked loosely at his back. His eyes were a cool, flinty gray and although his eyes were no where near as odd as Rob's, they were still unsettling. As he stared at the duo fighting in the alley below, he eyed the woman's technique—it was flawless. She knew how to fight. She was still green, but that was to be expected. She was young—he could feel it.
He knew her name. Celine. A lovely name—graceful. It suited her.
Most of the Grimm this side of the Atlantic knew who she was. She'd crossed over nearly four years earlier and she'd gone through more trainers in those four years than any ten Grimm usually went through in the same time frame combined.
Sometimes new ones did go through a rough patch and needed an adjustment period. Just not such an extensive one.
It wasn't that she was a bad student. She learned fast, she trained hard and once she'd figured how what she was supposed to be doing, no demon put in front of her stood a chance.
Grimms were made to kill demons and she did it very, very well.
She just might become a legend among them. A legend among legends…strange, that.
If she survived.
That was a big if.
Her fight wasn't about the mission. She hadn't become the whirlwind he saw before him because she cared all that much about what they were doing. It was, to her, just a means to an end. She fought like there was no tomorrow, because she didn't want a tomorrow.
She fought because she wanted to die. It was all but etched upon her skin. Her problem was that she was just too damn good at what she did.
But sooner or later, that luck would run out. And as he watched, it almost happened—too fast for any of them to even stop it, considering how far away they stood.
A silver flash caught the faint light as a demon came up behind her. If it wasn't for her trainer, Finn, she would have been toast. Finn was pyrokinetic and he used that handy little talent for fire to eliminate the other demons that managed to surround them. As the flames ripped through the alley like an inferno, Finn stormed up to Celine, his face tight and angry.
Celine didn't look like she appreciated the save.
"Will, what do you expect us to do with her?" Jacob slanted a look at Rob. "And are you actually expecting the two of us to work together with her?"
"No. But one of you will be the one to get through to her." A faint smile curled Will's lips and the simple silver disc at his neck glowed. "It will be one of you—because there aren't many left who have the experience to guide her. She's gone through most of the others I thought could help her. So it's down to one of you."
"Down to one of us?" Rob stroked a finger across one eyebrow. "So did you save the best for last or hope like hell you wouldn't need one of us?"
Will's mouth twisted in a humorless smile. "To be honest, I never thought it would be one of you. But today, I…had a feeling."
A feeling. Yes, Will's feelings were another thing of legend. He had 'feelings' and cities rose and fell, saints wept and angels bled.
The Grimm, usually. They were angels—of the guardian variety. And they could bleed. It wasn't unusual for one of Will's feelings to lead to bloodshed. The Grimm were a tough lot and they could heal just about anything short of losing their heads, which, all things considered, was a good thing.
"So this feeling," Jacob asked. "Did it say which one of us, or are we here just for see if you can have us both manage to be in the same hemisphere without killing each other?"
Will chuckled. "You've both been in the same hemisphere for six years now and you haven't killed each other. No. I wasn't sure which one…you'll both be connected to something that's coming up for her. I don't know how. I can't see that clearly. But I suspect the one who can help her will feel it."
"That girl down there needs serious guidance, Will. Everybody knows what a mess she is, but you're moving down the foodchain." The glow in Rob's eyes glinted hotter, redder as he crouched down, almost animal-like, one hand gripping the edge of the building. "I'm the biggest headcase among a party of headcases. And that one?" He nodded at Jacob. "This chit's problem is that she can't stop living in the past, right? She's only been one of us a few years. Jacob, though? He's still dragging his chains after almost two hundred years."
"Will, bear in mind, if you expect me to work with that imbecile, I'm likely to use any chains I might carry to strangle him." Jacob had worked with Rob. Once. Nearly a hundred and fifty ago. It had ended in a bloodbath—for them. Not the demons. Jacob had spent nearly two weeks in stasis, the healing sleep a Grimm needed when the damage was too extensive. Rob had needed a few days downtime himself, even though he was somewhat older than Jacob.
It was a well-known fact. Rob and Jacob didn't get along. At all. It hadn't been a joke about keeping them in different parts of the world. For a very long time, Will had done just that, to keep them apart.
"Don't worry. I need to bring the girl down to earth—make her accept her reality. Only one of you can do that. And I think the right one already knows who it is."
Jacob wore a silver pendant around his neck—the other Grimm wore one just like it, a silver disc, etched with wings, upswept. And right now, Jacob's pendant was pulsing, throbbing, and heating from within. He didn't need to the silent cue.
He'd known the moment he saw the girl she was for him.
Memory stabbed at him—he was no good at saving people. He was good at fighting, and excelled at killing things. Those were his talents. Oh, and reminding people of things they'd rather forget, stripping them bare of all defenses until they had to face things they'd rather die to accept. Nothing else.
Moving to the very edge of the building, he watched as Finn finished banking the fires he'd called. The woman stood off the side, cleaning her blades and tucking them away, looking cold and unaffected.
She wasn't, though. Unaffected. There was pain inside her. The power inside him, that monstrous power that had almost driven him mad, pulled at him, teased him…what lies behind the pain, let us see…
Jacob pushed it down. He wasn't going there, not with a Grimm. Her pain was her own.
Turning, he stood with his back at the very edge of the building, the wind slamming against him. It was cold, the bitter edge of winter sharp in the air.
His eyes met Will's silvery ones and he saw nothing there—no satisfaction, no interest, no curiosity. Not even that keen intelligence that he knew existed.
"And if I can't help her, what then?"
Something flashed in Will's eyes, then. It might have been relief. But then Will lowered his lids, his gaze shifting away to linger on the woman fighting before him. "We don't want that to happen, Jacob. It's been a long time since we've lost one. Let's not let it happen now."
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July 15, 2011
Yay! Drake made it!
Drake Bennett from Beg Me made it to the next round of Summer's Hottest Hero! That means…votes are open again, and you can vote again!
IMPORTANT…Seriously. Er…pretty please, guys…only vote once. Please don't offer or try to vote more than once. Yes, I'm competitive as hell, but if I win something, I wanna know I won fair and square. I can't win fair and square if people are voting more than once-I don't even like offers of extra votes.
You can go vote again, though, now. It's round three, the slate is clean and everybody gets to vote again! Yay! Go, vote! And if you vote for me? Awesome!!!! Is contest! I like contests! And if I win? I win cool stuffs! I like winning cool stuffs! It makes me happy…
And now…since I skipped the Friday 56 for this shameless bit of self promo-I shall post a mini excerpt from the current WIP. It's a Hunter book. Dunno about the release date. Will post when I know.
Stroking the edge of her knife with her thumb, she eased her way into the darker shadows of the room.
Even before she saw the moonlight shining off his pale hair, she knew.
He was down there, in the backyard, waiting for her. And damn it. He'd hauled her bike out. Bastard. He was leaning against it, leather stretching over those long thighs, a black T-shirt clinging to his lean chest. He had that blond hair pulled back in a neat tail at the nape of his neck and he looked good enough to eat. In many, many ways.
Her fangs pulsed.
Lower, much lower, other things pulsed. Because she knew he'd be aware, she figured she'd hide one hunger within another. Standing in the open window sill, keeping her knife hand free , she murmured, "Oh, look. It's Meals on Wheels."
He grinned at her. And then he leaped. Sylvia fell back, moving away from the window even as part of her wished she could stand there and just watch him move—
She pulled another knife, but didn't bother hiding that one. He'd go for the one she'd left in open view, she hoped.
He came through the window, almost silent, a grin on his lips, his blue eyes glinting with humor. That hot, rich scent of his flooded her head and suddenly, she had to swallow. It was that, or start drooling.
"Delivery service." She waggled her knife at him. "I like that."
"That mouth of yours ever get you in trouble, Sylvia?"
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