Throwing the Genres in a Mixer -- Mystery and What?

Energized isn't a witchie cozy, but Mary Behre took a little bit of mystery, a lot of suspense, a serial killer, romance, and the preternatural to construct her urban fantasy. You might say that most books in the genre do that. Maybe because writers and readers got bored with books with only one note. But the book didn't bore me with predictability even if it had a hunky former marine as the love interest. Yeah, she does the usual urban fantasy bit. Threw the ideas in the mixer.

It's no secret I read more mysteries than out and out fantasy. I read even less romance. The characters felt fresh to me. How many electricians are the heroes in urban fantasy? I know of one series with a carpenter mystery protagonist. Behre manages to round out all the important characters until they escape their clinches. One exception. The perp who was surprising mostly because she didn't give the character much of a spotlight. Still, the mystery held up quite well.

Best of all, Mary Behre gives you an example of how you can take a cliched genre book and make it totally fresh. The book didn't bore me with predictability even if a former hunky marine was the love interest. In fact I might expend a little effort and find the other two books [about the protagonist's long lost sisters] -- used, of course. You can read the sample of Energized to find out what you think on

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Other Reading Notes

Sometimes The New York Times Book Reviews yields little nuggets I hoard. Sharyn McCrumb has a new book out--The Unquiet Grave. Now I'm sitting here waiting. I find it hard to read hardbacks with my achy thumbs, so I'll hope the mass paperback will eventually appear. Sigh. I love the way she's been mixing historical fact and mystery lately.

Picked up another useless piece of information from the NYT Book Reviews. Who do you think are the four best sellers authors of all time? Shakespeare obviously since he had a few years to out-publish the competition. Danielle Steele is the fourth best selling writer. Agatha Christie and Barbara Cartland are the other two. Do you think romance writers get no respect?

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My Writing Rut

So comfortable to be back writing again. Still in Andor, but a much earlier time in its history--when the country was on its way to recovery after the "Disasters". I'm working trying to get Trapper out of the hills into a town. 

But I don't think you can call the stories dystopian. People have already learned to survive and are building larger communities and a central government again. Trial by Lies was the novella I was working on when I decided to drag There Be Demons out of the computer and publish it. The story has its own genre cliche--YA coming of age mixed with magic.

Not that its important, but I got a chuckle out of my one 2* review. The reviewer didn't like it. The beginning and ending grabbed her as well as some of the middle. The rest was just boring everyday stuff. Actually, that was one of the things I was trying to do...convey the "hurry up and wait" aspect of desperate fights, how Britt juggles her every day life with fighting demons.

When Good Things Go Bad

Be careful what you wish for,

 bad things always come attached, especially in fantasy.

Yeah, I know that's not how the saying goes, but that's what usually happens in the second book of a trilogy. Karina Sumner-Smith's Defiant polishes that premise mirror bright. Her narrative gets a little bogged down in detail at times. But that's fine with me--if there's plot moving information. I grew up in a slower moving age. Problem is style rather than info dump.

In the opening of the second book of the Towers Trilogy, Xhea's strange dark magic has disappeared while she recovers from her leg shattering injuries in Radiant. Edren,  the tower that rescued her, is basking in the magical power radiated by the ghost Shai. This set up soon launches into the discovery of a planned attack on the lower city tower by enemies unknown. 

The plot is off to the races with who planned to attack Edren and why. Xhea learning to control her magic after the attackers capture her. Edren leaders chasing after the wrong towers in preemptive attacks. The most alarming problem of the book? How Xhea and Shai cope when the bond between them is severed.

A rousing good tale from an Canadian author who doesn't get the credit or reviews she deserves. At least this hermit doesn't see much buzz about it online. You can look at the free sample on

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My Writing Rut

I've read all sorts of writer blogs complaining about marketing their books. Now I'm living it. 

More like, I'm scratching at the cosmos in search of reviews myself. *funny, growly faces*

There Be Demons blog tours are just getting off the ground. My fate will be known by the end of the month. Do wonder how the reviews will fall since I made the conscious decision to develop the routine daily lives the Gargoyle Gang had to break out of to learn how to fight the demons. May have made the wrong decision since most teens have been conditioned by movie explosions.

You can read the sample of There Be Demons on Amazon or read the short story prequel -- Night for the Gargoyles -- for free.

As for the writing bit, I've gone back to the novella I was writing before I decided to publish There Be Demons -- Trial by Lies.

Makes me wonder why an old lady is writing YA.

Survivng Reading Doldrums

Yay! I finished a book I started -- E. J. Cooperman's Spouse on Haunted Hill. As always, the humor kept the mayhem churning even though the body remains off scene. Can't have a murder mystery without the body, even in a cozy.

Allison, the owner of a haunted guesthouse, must rescue her ex-husband's [The Swine] from gang-like collectors who are unhappy with an iffy investment deal. They want their money back or maybe an implied pound of flesh. While Allison would prefer to let The Swine reap his just desserts, the needs of her daughter for her father trumps her druthers. Of course, the resident ghosts help solve the mystery with their many talents. Sounds cut and dried, but Cooperman's a master of characterization and plot twists.

I've read many books in this series and was sort of dismayed when so many loose ends were neatly tied up at the end. Maxie, the truculent ghost, even got married to her ghostly boyfriend. Then, read that there are two more books in the series when I when looking for the links. With Maxie's off on her honeymoon, I'm wondering who'll provide the vinegar to counter the cozy sweetness in the next book.

See more reviews and comments.

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Am wondering why why I didn't laugh out loud when reading Berk Breathed's new Bloom County comic on Facebook. Am sure laughing while I read my Christmas present, a compilation of the strips. I snort and snurggle so much my old man keeps asking what's wrong with me.

If you missed the new series and/or miss the gang after a 25 year absence you can try this Facebook link.

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Writerly Stuff

Like covers? The Literary Hub just did a blog on the best book covers chosen by professional designers. If you write, you should take a look so see what professionals think. 

Personally, I thought some were "busy" and "hard to read". If I have time, I might go to Amazon and see what the sales figures were.  After all, "they" say: the quality of your cover influences your sales.

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Haven't been pushing on my writing. My critique group isn't going to meet until mid-month so Pissing at the Green Onion is sitting. Did get some 2000+ words on another Andor story started ... two disjointed segments in the computer and lots of sticky notes. Not going to worry about them until tomorrow.

What Keeps You Reading???

Here a Book, There a Book

Am wondering ... about the books I started pile. Not the to-read pile, which is growing, but the books I started and put down to read again ... whenever. At last count, there're eight of them in various stages of completion. 

The one I finished last? Neil Gaiman's Stardust, the story of a feckless lad who grows up during a quest to bring his lady love a fallen star. I picked it up last weekend and finished it in three days. Written in the classic fairy tale style, I enjoyed the sly humor of the piece as well as Gaiman's inventiveness in using the standard motifs. Well worth reading. But you probably already know that. It's been around for a while as the various covers tell you.

You can take a look on Amazon and Nook.

So, I finished Stardust midweek. Did I pick up one of my already started books? No. I'm reading Darynda Jones' The Curse of the Tenth Grave. 

Am wondering if you hop, skip, and jump through your reading pile. 

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On my writing front,  the content editor has On the Run. Yeah, I finally got all the critique and beta edits collated into the draft. 

Other progress, finished Pissing at the Green Onion, a short story meant to be a freebie sometime or other. Also, got a couple pages into a post-disaster Andor story set during the times the Kingscourt established its rule over the western lands. Yeah, both There Be Demons and On the Run happen on Andor's west coast. After all, I'm a California valley girl -- Central Valley, that is. For sure.

May seem silly to have a cover so early [My critique group isn't going to be looking at it until January.], but some people seem to think it helps with the writing to have a working cover.

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Writerly Things

Colorado Writers have a wonderful marketing tool in the Ultimate Pitchfest. If you're a writer having problems with your queries, they offer digital lessons on how to create a perfect pitch. Again, having a pitch while you're editing, can help to keep you focused on your story line even if you don't have a manuscript ready to shop.

On the Run won't be ready in time to shop there. [They do Skype pitches to good agents.] But I'm going to be doing the digital learn to pitch workshop soon.

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Oh, Happy Holidays All

Hope you celebrate several during the holiday season.

Just Writing & Reading Along

Reading this last week has been disappointing. Am reading three books at the moment, none of which is keeping my attention for more than an hour or so. I'm just hooked enough to go back to the book, but none of them is pulling me along for "just one more chapter".

Would you believe they're all thrillers,

 books duty-bound to keep me reading in spite of sleep?

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It always feels nice when I managed to complete some writing task for On the Run. This time it's the sticky notes. They're all incorporated with their chapters. Now I have to go back and revise for my beta readers. It's a tedious process. *grin* But, I'm progressing and am further ahead than my co-readers.

More important. I found the rough idea outline for a short story/novella, Pissing at the Green Onion. Who knew Cahal [from: There Be Demons] was living in Taddledon? I didn't until I found the situation floating floating in a college town. Of course, Taddledon is a major city, but that doesn't mean it lacks a beer scene. Am thinking about a sequel combining the character of the two manuscripts, so plopped Cahal into the short story notes. Managed to add about 300 words for a tentative beginning.

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A link I found interesting and wish I could chat about:

A video from Slate about how a musical theme has been used over and over again in creative ways.

Anyone remember the list of the different kinds of plots?

Who Was the Winner of Your Reading Derby This Week?

    Ended up hosting a reading derby this past week--with two books instead of seventeen. Started reading one book by a favorite author but ended up skimming it more than reading because the book emphasized action rather than character development. Maybe that's one problem for long running series--readers become more interested more in what's happening to the people in the book rather than sis-boom-bah action scenes running one after the other--and they fizzle? At least it was for me. [I did finish and enjoy the book, but it was an also ran.]

   The winner was Kay Hooper's  A Deadly Web , part of her new Bishop Files series. The story's a nice, tight thriller with Bishop trying to find out why psychics are going missing. The plot pits him against a deadly web of psychics preying upon psychics. I get a little tired of conspiracy theories in real life, but where would genre fiction be without them?

   I don't think the people in peril plot line ever gets tiresome once a writer sets up a likable set of characters. In A Deadly Web, you have an attractive main character who needs saving from a fate worse than death, which is more nefarious than the cliche. Since the book fits in the romance-suspense-thriller category, there's a caring male to anchor the MC, a character who is working with another psychic group than Bishop's to save psychics. Even the members of the cabal of villains are interesting and well drawn .

   Problem. Too much talking. Hooper weighed this book down with too much character and not enough action. Worse, the ending seems to dangle without a real resolution. Another way of putting it, the characters didn't seem to grow from their experiences. Granted Hooper needs some loopholes to hook readers for the next book in the series. But to me, the book felt 3/4s baked. Only the end sank rather than the middle.

   The multiple changes in viewpoint also bothered me. Even the secondary characters got their place in the sun. Often felt like Hooper was head-hopping. Thrillers need to get into the perps' minds to create suspense, but this story seemed to be spending as much time on the villains as the heroes. If I counted the pages, I'm sure this wasn't true, but it still felt like it.

   That said, let's talk about the pluses. Hooper's a master at creating a spine-crawling sense of dread in the reader. She sets up a menacing situation and then squeezes it dry. And, Hooper knows how to convey psychic sensibilities so they seem possible even to non-believers.

Recommend in spite of reservations. The book kept me reading well beyond my bed time so I guess it means the book is better than most. But the book definitely isn't Hooper's best.

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Did you hear my scream: "Finally, *#(&%"?

    GoDaddy's advanced tech support finally fixed my webbuilder so it stayed fixed. The new excerpt of my working draft of On the Run is now up. Now I have to start thinking about longlines. All of this is subject to change of course because Pillar may surprise me against with an insight I never dreamed of when I started the story. For once my reviewers might be happy. The story is threatening to be longer than my other self-published pieces, thus taking care of my biggest criticism in my reviews. My stories should be longer.

   Did get a nice review for The Ghostcrow at TMBA Corbett. I always find it interesting when others find my fantasy realistic. Oh, you have to scroll down through all the book promo stuff to get to the review since it's part of a blog tour.

Now all I have to do is get writing on my new stuff.

Does that sound familiar?