Can Gargoyles Have Problems? A Different Shade of Gargoyle

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Thanks to the family lending library, Gigi Pandian's Accidental Alchemist landed in my to-read piles. It turned out to be a fun, delightful read with its twisting murder plot, complete with bodies, almost bodies, and perp candidates. Best of all it had a gargoyle. I suspect the kids are waiting for me to say something because of Gillen in There Be Demons. [I haven't.]

Okay, I could develop a thing about intelligent gargoyles. Dorian Robert-Huduin is a Notre Dame gargoyle who was accidentally brought to life by an alchemist when the cathedral was being built. Now Dorian's got a problem. He's reverting back to stone and needs Zoe Faust's alchemy skills to translate an ancient grimorie to find the elexir that will prevent his return to stone. The gargoyle is also an accomplished French chef, a plot ingredient which qualifies this series as a cozy mystery, I guess. At least, the title isn't a pun.

Zoe Faust has just moved to Portland, Oregon, and bought a neighborhood's "haunted house". A survivor of the Salem witch trials, Faust is the most undeveloped detective protagonist I've come across in ages. In fact, characters are Panian's weakness. Seldom do they escape the bondage of cardboard figures. Oh, they're described, have secrets, and give many smiles to the reader...but they all tend to remain flat, except for Dorian. He's worth the price of the book.

All in all, a delightful romp, meaning a light quick read for when you want to be be entertained mystery or just tired. You can take a look for yourself by clicking

Amazon       Nook        kobo

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Other Interesting Reading

Ever wonder what the State of Publishing is today? Came across this interesting article reference at GoodReads. Tells you the characteristics that make 100K selling authors successful, both indie and corporate-published.

I not only chuckle at the New York Times Book Review. The real estate ads in the New York Times magazine are also laughable. Condos for $2 million plus home association fees. Real pertinent ads to the American public when the average net worth is under $100,000, I think. 

I know I couldn't afford a $2 million condo, any where. Not that it matters. I wouldn't want to live in New York City. It's dirty and noisy and in ill repair, even though they spend huge amounts of money not getting things to work efficiently. I'll say: subways without elevators for the handicapped and rest my case.

On a writing note. I think I'm going to have to blog every other week. My age is catching up with me. 

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My Writing Rut

Reviews are coming in for There Be Demons [not bad], but not that many sales. Am hoping the sales improve after the ebook version is lowered to $2.99. Currently, the ebook is descounted to $1.99 until 12 November. You can take a look at:

Amazon      Nook       kobo       iBooks

Or, if you'd like to take a chance on winning a free Kindle copy, you can click here if you are a US reader.

I tried to do NaNoWriMo this year as a way to jumpstart the third book for a potential trilogy called The Demon Wars. Oh, I'm making some progress, but definitly missing the 2,000 words a day mark.

I've fallen back into my normal writing pace...and fighting not to pull The Pig Wars, a Far Isles Half-Elven story, out of the bowels of my computer. Think I gave up on NaNoWriMo when I couldn't figure out how to post my daily words on the NaNo graph when I was making my quota, like about days 3 and 4. I think I prefer to keep my undisciplined persona.

Juggling Two Myseries for the Price of One

Tossing the mysery clues on the table and scrambling them is something Carol O'Connell does like few other mystery authors. Her books are dense with characters' backstory and plot twists. Not only that she manages to juggle two crime stories with other minor foibles in Blind Sight, she keep the pace fast and furious. 

The fewest foibles belong to her hard-boiled detective, Kathy Mallory. I'm always looking for a clue that Mallory feels human emotions. O'Connell teases, but never quite delivers in the later books in the series.

Blind Sight, the twelveth Mallory book, reads like a jigsaw puzzle. Scattered viewpoints, several in each chapter, reveal a tad of information about what's going on. By the end of the fourth or fifth chapter, Carol O'Connell builds a platform that gives the reader enough information to know a lot about New York City, main and secondary characters, plus the possible villians and their crimes--all without an info-dump. Quite an achievment when you consider how complex O'Connell's Mallory books are.

I like the way the puzzle pieces bounce around as O'Connell juggles her two interrealated mysteries, giving the reader a lot of mental exercise. They land here and there with little slight of hand until you can start making guesses about what is relevant and not, what pieces tie into each other. O'Connell doesn't deal in anything so obvious as a red herring.

Interested in reading a sample? Check out these links

Amazon      Barnes & Nobel      kobo       Google Play

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Other Reading Adventures

I'm a chronic reader of the author interviews in the Sunday New York Times Book Review--even though the questions are mostly the same. The authors who don't have "nightstands" full of book always get a chuckle. Piles of books always seems more realistic. Surprisingly, seldom is a guilty pleasure mentioned. All the titles are impressive. Or, maybe, I gave up reading serious books for lent years ago.

Myself? I have two to-read piles over two feet high. [Yes, I still buy books.] The thought of a small night stand able to hold all the books of a chronic reader strikes me funny. 

There is one book bearing "nightstand" in our family. My old man uses the cedar chest he built in high school as his. My piles of books are neater, but his are scattered all over the space of four large nightstands. We won't talk about the piles in the spare bedroom, living room, the dining room, and the basement. [The cookbooks in the kitchen don't count.]

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My Writing Rut

I've always had problem coming up with a comfortable genre for my Andor books. The Far Isles Half-Elven are simple in comparison.

So what are the Andor stories besides fantasy? What genre do they belong in?

"Weird" and "different" are a couple of descriptions reviewers have used. But Google Play just gave me some comparable authors-- Kim Harrison, P. C. Cast and Diana Rowlands. My publisher finally posted to Google Play, so now There Be Demons is available on the android platform. But I was surprised at the covers of similar books that Google put my book among.

You can read a sample of There Be Demons on

Amazon      Nook      kobo       Google Play      iBook

Have been floundering in the promo pool for There Be Demons, but it's getting to the point where it's going to have to sink or swim on its own. I've decided to do NaNoWriMo--the National Novel Writing Month--where novelist all over the world try to write a complete novel [50,000 words] in one month. Me? I'm not so ambitious. I plan to write one chapter problem a day. Hoping to have a semi-draft of the 3rd book in The Demon Wars to work with by the end of the month.

On another note. If you have time and are a member of GoodReads, you could tell them you want to read There Be Demons.

Click Here

Do YA Attention Spans Need Explosions With Their Fantasy?

Finally, got Karina Sumner-Smith's Towers Fall from the family lending library. The fantasy book was slow in arriving, but I expected to savor it as soon as the night news was over. Instead, I found myself skimming the text in sort of a wave pattern. The book would absorb me, then when a narative meme was repeated two or more times in a row, my reading speed picked up again. The twists and turns and "hanging dooms" when Sumner-Smith switched characters kept me reading.

In short, I never quite abandoned the book for another but was left feeling unsatisfied. The book should have had me staying up past my bedtime as I rooted for the "down-and-outers" to best the snobby elite.

There's loads to like in this well-woven tale--two well- woven protagonists who keep on growing and struggling on their own, secondary characters who keep demonstrating new traits, plus non-stop action. Shai and Xhea are on a short timeline to save the Lower City, rushing from one organic crisis to another.

Yet I skimmed, even though I like to savor moments from the character's worlds. More important. I cried. The characters were so well drawn the usually reluctant tears flowed at the dilemma the Xhea and Shai had to face at the end.

I don't need explosions to keep my interest, but I wonder about teens. Towers Fall has been on the market since 2015 with under 20 reviews. This truely inventive book deserves better.

Try a sample of Towers Fall on:

Amazon      Barnes & Noble       kobo

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Other Reading Adventures

Thoroughly enjoyed re-reading Tamora Pierce's Terrier about Beka Cooper's first case as an apprentice Guard in a "medieval" type port. Didn't get bored once and read way beyond my bedtime. Had forgotten about the insult of "fishpuppy". Beka's shyness makes normal events painful for her, a trait she must overcome if she's to survive as a guard.  -- A great read if you aren't familiar with her books. Terrier is the first book in a trilogy.

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My Writing Rut

Have been feeling quilty about not writing. There Be Demons has been chewing through my time. Even the social media time I enjoy got bitten. Have managed some nice reviews. But not many sales. But then, the promo is just getting started, and I'm a total unknown. At least, my publisher got the ebook up on Google Play as well as Amazon and kobo.

My conscience is getting soothed by thinking I'm going to to do NaNoWriMo this year--that great sprint in November when writers try to draft a book in one month. Hah. 

Book? A possible third book in The Demon Wars Trilogy...if it gets written. As slow as I write, it may be five years from now before all the pieces are put in place and polished. Did have one new idea. Vetis comes back to woo Grylerrque, his long lost lust, fo the ending fight.

At least, he'll be doing more than checking up on Abraxas. As soon as I had the idea, the possibilities began tumbling through my mind.

Feel a little sad to be leaving Trapper in the middle of his story.

Dark Things Haunt the Shadows

And sometimes they jump right out into the open, especially in R. S. Belcher's fantasy worlds. Nightwise is a lovely, lovely fantasy, though very dark. Just right for Halloween.

Belcher's hillbilly anti-hero walks tall through all the mayhem thrown at him, almost too easily, but it's all great fun. At another level, Nightwise is a fast moving morality tale of a tortured soul trying to do the right thing.

Just one example of Belcher's writing:
"It [the demon] was nine feet tall, four feet wide a column of black leathery skin leaking medical waste from fist-size sphincters all across its body. Glowing red eyes, mouths, barbed breasts, hooked penises, and human arms were scattered across the surface of its trunk with no semblance of reason."

Sorry to say, he makes my demons look tame in comparison. Creepy fantasy at its best.
You can find the book at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

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Interesting Stuff

Haven't been doing much on the web except doing promo for There Be Demons. Figure that's only of interest to writers. If you're interest in what worked for me, you can always PM me on my author page of Facebook or comment.

One nice thing: ten people have liked my cover on Net Galley. Don't know if I've snagged any reviews yet.

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My Writing Rut
isn't so rutty.
Some progress is being made.

There Be Demons is almost published, release date 26 September. It's up on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and kobo -- and a bunch of other places Wooden Pants distributes their books. It's still a long slow process because I'm slogging through the promo. Don't think all the links work much, but I'm jumping through the hoops anyway.

You can find There Be Demons on:  Amazon     Barnes & Noble     kobo

I'm Back Again

Goggle let me in, I think.

So What's Been Happening

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My Writing Life?

Well, I've got a new book coming out, There Be Demons. 

  

Demon invaders from Gehenathh overrun the city of Trebridge. Gillen, the lodestar of the four gargoyles protecting the city, asks for reinforcements. The Angeli commanders send him four untrained teens from the projects. What could go wrong?

After her parents’ divorce, Britt Kelly is forced to live in the projects, often dreaming of getting revenge on her father who abandoned his family. When the Angeli commanders draft her and her friends to fight beside the gargoyles in The Demon Wars, she battles Gillen as often as she does the demons.

The fate of Trebridge and humankind hangs in the balance.

I'll have more information soon. Tentative release date: 26 September 

Then, I'm itching to write too.

Found this wonderful bug book which should give me lots of info for Cahal to spout, scent trails and beetles like from Doom for a Sold Soul. I think I'm going to have fun with this one. This will all go in the third book of the War with Demons trilogy.

My Reading? 

Been mostly rereading. Read a couple Bailey Cantrell mysteries but put them on the trade pile. Am itching to reread Tamara Pierce's Beka Cooper trilogy...when I get through the pile of magazines.

 

Thinking About Where Do Book Series Begin? End?

My obsession with series continues. You can blame it on The Grumpy Dragon and its suggestion that I write a sequel to There Be Demons. The thought's scary like jumping off a cliff without a parachute.

Why? All the novels that have come out of my computer so far have grown organically as my characters careened from one situation to the next. The Demons sequel demands a outline. Why? Because if there's a middle, there logically has to be an end. Seems to me setting up the situation is the easy part. The rest has to build an expand on what happened before.

What are your feelings on this?

Cricket McCrae, aka Bailey Cates, poured gas on my fire, aka questions. She's the author of the Magical Bakery Mysteries among others. I recently read the last two in the series ... trilogy? ... close together -- Bewitched, Bothered, and Biscotti and Charms and Chocolate Chips. Yeah, the titles reek of cozy cutesie, but I read and enjoyed them anyway -- without having to control my gag reflex. McCrae/Bailey has a light touch with murder. I'll take my smiles where I can find them.

The first book,  Brownies and Broomsticks, sets up the series when Katie Lightfoot moves to Savannah, GA. She hopes to start a new career helping her aunt and uncle set up a bakery. Lightfoot's running from a bad job, a relationship gone teminal, and a mother who forgot to tell her she was a witch-in-waiting. The most important "man" in her life is the stray mutt who sets himself up as her familiar though the book sets up two possible suitors.  The storyline follows her trek of discovery -- including a knack for sleuthing when her uncle becomes the prime suspect in a murder. 

Bewitched, Bothered and Biscotti has Lighfoot learning her magical abilities mean more than charming the baked good with herbs and good intentions. She continues finding murdered bodies and solving crimes, in spite of police opposition. She's also in the enviable situation of choosing between two hunks -- one with magic and one normal. Lightfoot also comes to terms with the fact she's a witch and learns about the various permutations the Craft can take. The most important revelation in the second volume is that Lightfoot is more powerful than a common hedge witch ...only she has no one to teach her.

Charms and Chocolate Chips continues Lightfoot's journey -- and leaves me hanging. Is the book the last of a trilogy or the third in an ongoing series? 

Lightfoot is becoming part of the community now and is volunteering for a local conservation group when the director is murdered, supposedly because she opposed the sale of a swamp to a consortium who wants to build a golf course. She settles on the normal guy for romance, but she doesn't know if she can make it work, especially when she puts him in harm's way. 

Her mother coming to Savannah to reconcile with Lightfoot makes me wonder if there will be more Lightfoot mysteries. Many of the protagonist's problems are wrapped up in an acceptable way in this book, including a reconciliation with her mother. I can see where the series could go on as Lightfoot solves more murders in Savannah. But took a look at the author websites, but didn't find any clues as to the writer's intentions.

So what about the writing craft aspects of these novels? I especially admire how McCrae/Bailey draws her characters. Even the tertiary ones are well-rounded. The plots twist enough to be interesting. Her villains are well motivated. McCrae/Bailey puts together a nice paranormal mystery, based on nice people you wouldn't mind knowing. Maybe even make you wish you did know people like them.

McCrae/Bailey stirs up a nice, cross-genre confection. I'm stuffing all three volumes in my overloaded book shelves. Five stars to the series as well as the individual books.

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Writers write, right? Sometime during the day, I know I'm supposed to write. I try. Really I do. I even have a schedule. Toy with Forbidden Fruit in the evenings. [I still want to publish more novellas about the my Half-Elven world.] 

In the morning, I was working on edits for Black Tail's War. Now, I'm launching a new project. Why?

1. Taking Vengeance is finally up on Amazon, Nook, and Smashwords. I need to promote it.
2. I've submitted The Noticing One, a short story, to Amazon singles.
3. Since it worked the first time with Night for the Gargoyles, I'm writing a short story set in the world of the sequel to There Be Demons. Even have a tentative book title, Crossing the River.

Think that's enough on my plate.

Oh, I've been offering Taking Vengeance free on Smashwords to people who follow me on the various social media that consume too much of my time. The code is EG75E, and it's good until 30 November 2013. Link to buy

If you like it, I'd appreciate a review. Just a short paragraph. No Master's Thesis.

Golden Fantasy Oldies -- Revisiting Favorite Reads

Most fantasy readers I've talked to still get warm fuzzies from the favorite fantasy worlds of their youth. It's enough to make me feel unnatural because I seldom feel warm fuzzies about anything. Yeah, old pickle puss, that's me. Still I do reread and reread some of the same books over and over. 

Andre Norton's Year of the Unicorn and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight are just two recent examples.

The Year of the Unicorn is what might be called a novella today by some publisher requirements, but it was an Ace single when I bought it. The lords of Dales made a bargain with a pack of were-riders to give them 13 brides of good birth if the weres helped them defeat their Alizon attackers. The Unicorn book tells the story of how the debt was paid and how two young misfits who must find a their place in the world.

Set in Norton's Witch World,  Year of the Unicorn demonstrates one of the things Andre Norton does best -- a coming of age story of two talented young people who don't fit their society's expectations. The story is sparsely written but characters and setting come through loud and clear as the two struggle for their lives.

Anne McCaffrey's world of Pern is another classic fantasy franchise. I read Dragonflight  with enjoyment. The plot lines of the two main characters, Lessa and F'lar, coping with a deadly danger from space and each other held up well. So well it sucked me right into reading the sequel.

Can't say the same about Dragonquest where coping with a four-hundred-year time difference is the prime problem . Lessa became a secondary character, and F'lar become a deus ex machina with the right answer for everything. A few dust ups but no conflict, let alone angst.

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Am spending huge amounts of time on the computer ... but not getting much writing or blogging done. Primarily because I don't know what I want to do. Oh, I have plenty to do. 

The beginning of the Half-Elven of the Marches ... some 20,000 words into it. Is it the beginning of a novel? Another novella. The more I ponder while petting my muse, I think it will be a series of novellas. Then, if it ever becomes a novel ... Who knows what will happen.

There Be Demons is waiting for the teen editors. It's an interesting concept to have teens part of the editorial process. On the other hand, teens are part of the editorial process. Not quite ready to start singing: Some Day My Edits Will Come.

Have been as slow to blog as to write. I don't do formal well ... so I'm going back to mouthing off. It's what I do best ... even if no one agrees with me.

Summer's over with. Hope you have lots of interesting projects to keep you busy over the winter. Maybe even a bright new idea for NaNoWriMo.

More of the Same

Trivia:  My husband seems to be coming to the end of his picture project -- turning his 30+ years worth of slides, which gathered dust in a box, into prints.  He's been putting the prints into albums, one for each of his trips.  

The personal pictures end up on the dining room table for me to put in albums.  I thought I got the things in order by year (about five inches stacked) -- when he scatters another bunch on the table.  Guess, it's nice to get them organized into albums, but I suspect they'll still gather dust.  

(I'm behind at my end of the project, but it's nice to see pictures of the kids when younger.)


Comment:  David Brooks, of News Hour fame, made an interesting observation in the New York Times  yesterday (15 September 2009) in his column. He discusses how we turned from a humble people (WWII, sort of my generation) into a narcissistic one (now).  In the opinion piece, he quotes the London Times to the effect that  "fascism had stood for grandiosity, pomposity, boasting and zeal."  

My thought:  "Ouch!"  If the news media is right. the description fits too high a percentage of Americans to a "T".  



Reading:  Finished Riordan's Percy Jackson series, The Last Olympian.  I liked the twist on the word "last".  The last Olympian wasn't the stalwart warrior standing against all odds against the evil hordes, though that's an important part of the book.  No, she was Hestia, keeper of the hearth.  You know, keeping the home fires burning against all odds.   Incidentally, I thought the ending gave a nice conclusion though some might think it a little long.



I've already started Louise Penny's newest Gamache novel -- a Three Pines mystery away from Three Pines.  Not as much head hopping in this one, but she still uses multiple viewpoints.  I'm liking the linear effect of her writing while getting an insight into all the possible suspects.


Writing:  Poor Emma, she's stuck on a hill waiting to get captured by the spriggens.  Unfortunately, Kerry of Tangled has usurped her.



Wondering when revision is done.  I'm guessing:  not until a story/novel is sold.  

Looked at the short story that was the basis for There Be Demons (unagented, unsold), screeched and revised it.  The 2700 word story now weighs in at 2300 words.  Now, I've gotta do some revisions in the book to include the better ideas I came up with.


Progress:  Working on chapter 6 of "Lost in a Tangled Maze".   Maybe 5,000 words removed. --  An example of how important critiquers are:  By the time my beta readers tagged all the "telling" and other weak points (like adverbs and commas), chapter 2 dropped another 500 words.  They weren't missed when I reread it this morning.


Guess Tangled is the only thing I'm working on for the now, except this blog.



 

Critiques Piling UP -- and I'm Playing with This?

Trivia:  Got back from the farmers' market.  [The old man's accumulating squash for the winter.  I buy kettle corn for breakfast.]  Anyway I cooked posole for dinner.  The aroma of the house as I came in the door was heavenly.  Much better than fried fish.

Another nice thing about farmers' markets:  You meet people you know but don't normally see.  Discovered a friend had an apricot poodle I didn't know about.  [It went crazy over the cat smell all over my clothes.]


Comment:  I had a sneaky suspicion that I was spending more money than usual.  When I checked, I was.  Things like going out to restaurants and buying books.  No big deal because we have the money.  It's just out of character.  

Then I noticed where the money was going.  To mom-&-pop places that I would like to see survive the recession.  The US of A must be in bad shape when your spending turns into charity.

If so many people weren't getting caught in the middle, I'd be laughing at the corporate-America mind-set/ethos.  They shipped hundreds of thousands of jobs overseas to improve their bottom line and increase executive pay, then expected the public to keep buying.  I rest my case for the intelligence of corporate group-think.

Reading:  Am well into the fifth book of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series -- The End of the Olympians [I think.  I'm not going down stairs to look it up.].  I'll finish it because I think it's a good case study in stringing action scenes together, even though I find them rather repetitive.    I also find it rather shallow in its characterization.  I can't quite excuse that away by saying the story is told from an adolescent male's viewpoint. 

Also bought a Barbara Hambly book about vampires.  I don't read about vampires, but there you are.  I'm a fan of hers, but I like the Ben January mysteries best.  [This was one of charity purchases.  I need another book ... like five pounds on my hips.]

Writing:  Am thinking my writing is a disaster at the moment.  I've got this short story which became the basis of my novel manuscript -- There Be Demons, and have been submitting it.  Rejections have come in regularly, some with nice personal comments.  I decided to look at it before I sent it out again.  Before I had chopped it down to 2700 words.  Now the story is 2300 words

Now I got to go back to the chapters I have to critique.  I recommend critiquing, beta reading, or whatever you want to call it.  I've learned a lot about revising and editing.  More important, I have a better idea about my bad habits from my critiquers.  Thanks all.

Progress:  Not much.  See comments about Night for the Gargoyles.