Guilty Pleasures -- Do You Read Them? Write Them?

Guilty Pleasures? What are they any way? Something you consider not worthy of reading but enjoy any way? Something you are ashamed of reading and are glad you have an e-reader so no one on the train or bus knows what you are reading?

No I don't consider Erotica a guilty pleasure. Hey, I read and have kept all the Anita Blake series except for Affliction which hasn't come out in mass paperback yet. I think Laurell K. Hamilton's bed scenes are more exhausting than titillating.

For me guilty pleasures involve Romantica of the Happily-Ever-Afters because I don't think any human should be so stupid as to bank all his/her happiness on one individual. In other words I have a short tolerance level for Idiotica. 

Having said that, I admit that I read romances. Hey I've even read a few Barbara Cartland Regencies in my life... until I ignored them because they lacked the detail of Georgette Heyer's settings and her intelligent heroines. [Yeah, I still have all of Heyer's Regencies on my bookshelves and even re-read them.] 

What kind of romances to I succumb to? Ones with a good mystery, and better yet, an interesting supernatural/real world connection tied to a mystery.

So what did I read while my brain was on meltdown from

There Be Demons edits?

Mary Balough: The Proposal -- Lord Trentham, a commoner [rich], gained his title for battlefield bravery but now reluctantly looks for a wife since he promised his father on his deathbed that his sons would carry on the family business. Hero chances upon Lady Muir, a widow and part of the intricate family networks of the Bedwyn world. The premise: the struggle to reconcile two conflicting worlds. Yeah this is a b/g meets g/b - b/g loses g/b - b/g wins g/b book. Balough makes the book a winner with her command of the Regency era .and the complexities of her characters. -- Five Stars and a Keeper.

Stephanie Laurens: The Taming of Ryder Cavanaugh -- At first, the book looks a simple romance where Mary Cynster, the last unmarried Cynster female of her generation, finds her true love with the help of a mystical necklace connected with the Lady, a mystical Scottish entity connected to her family. The story soon complicates into a decent who-done-it as Ryder and Mary try to figure out who is trying to kill them. -- Four Stars since too many of the Cynster heroes blend into an repetitive pattern. Still the series has been enjoyable, if unchallenging, reads.

Last but not least, Heather Graham's Heart of Evil -- Graham's supernatural villains are the topping that makes her supernatural mysteries so enjoyable. In this story, former lovers must reconcile against the background of the "Krewe of Hunters" -- an FBI group of paranormal mystery solvers -- tackling the murder of a Civil War enactor who is found swinging from an angel in a plantation cemetery. -- Five Stars for inventiveness here.

So now you know what I've been reading during the three weeks I've been doing edits of There Be Demons for the Grumpy Dragon Press editors. Yeah it's escapist "literature". But they are all good, relaxing reads. May I be so successful.

20 Years and Counting -- Think You Could Write a 23-Plus Book Series?

The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton has dwindled down to a "guilty pleasure" for me -- and no, not because of her multiple-multiple sex scenes. She's created characters I care about but often have no major roles in subsequent books. 

Was hoping Kiss the Dead would change the pattern. But it's gotten worse. Many characters have just stopped growing as people. Or if a character has changed, like Claudia hinting she has a significant other in Kiss the Dead, Hamilton mentions it and drops it.  --[Claudia is a senior security guard in Master of Saint Louis' underground compound.]--

When I first started reading the series I was fascinated by Hamilton's plot twists and her take on the preternatural/ paranormal conventions. I also like the the fact the main character is short and Mexican/German. --[Hey, there aren't that many of us around in the US.]-- Even understood the conflict of Blake's abilities to raise the dead and the Roman Catholic church, not to say her German grandmother, who unfortunately never made an appearance in the books. Unfortunately, Blake has moved on from her conflicted youth to accepting her unconventional, polyamorous live style.

Yeah. I consider the books a guilty pleasure because, even though Hamilton kept her place on the best seller lists, the plot lines got thinner and thinner and potential conflicts get mentioned and tossed without much, if any, emotion or elaboration. Like Hamilton tells us what was going on rather than showing us. 

Still I hung in there when Hamilton introduced  Mommie Darkest, the mother of all vampires [in Blake's world at least], as an antagonist. When the big denouement with Mommie Darkest came in Hit List , it lasted maybe five pages. Big Time Bummer.

Then, Kiss the Dead appeared in mass paperback. I couldn't resist buying it ... just because I was wondering what Hamilton would do once the founder of all vampires had been destroyed. Also had a interesting hook -- the capture of a fifteen-year-old. I waited, hoping Hamilton would get back some of her old moxie. Wondered how defeating Mommy Darkest would influence Blake's life, reactions, and feelings. Turned out ... Blake hardly thinks about it as she chases a laisez-faire vampire who believes in individual liberty.

Okay. I liked the book better than Hit List. But, and it's a big but. The writing competence is there. But the characters don't seem to exhibit much fire. Blake seems to be wading through much of the same emotional ground without a strong mystery component. The flavor of the book doesn't include much cayenne or even chili. 

And where oh where did Jean Claude go. Wasn't he supposed to be a major character? There aren't any conflicts going on with him setting up a Council of Masters of American Cities though there is a minor toss up with Asher being pissy. What's new?

I give Kiss the Dead three stars -- even though I'm keeping it for now.

One thing the book did do -- sent me off to read Guilty Pleasures, the first in the series. No, I won't be doing a review. I only review about a third of the books I read. Guess I need to get on Goodreads more.

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Turned in the first round of edits for There BE Demons to the Grumpy Dragon. Now seem to be wallowing in summer-type ennui even though we've turned on the a/c. Still trying to finish the first novella of the Half-Elven companion novels ... but it's a slow slog. Think I'm trying to draft it too perfect ... if that makes any sense

I might be self-publishing the short story that started it all:

Night for the Gargoyles

which was published by Spectra Magazine, volume five.

Grumpy Dragon is deciding if they want to do it. 

Here's the tentative cover if I self-publish.

Giving Secondary Characters a Chance to Star: Exploring the Sidetracks in Your Story Lines

Have you ever been enchanted by a secondary character in a novel? One that lurks in the background until needed for the plot? One that deserved to be a star, at least in your opinion?

The writing team Ilona Andrews does just that in Gunmetal Magic with Andrea, the were-hyena or Bouda friend, and later, partner of Kate Daniels in the Andrews' Magic series.  Andrea's problems get star billing ... as she works through a twisting mystery ... while she clears up some personal issues with authority and reconciliation with her lover. Yeah. Andrea is a busy girl in this book.

Perhaps Andrea shows too much "teenage horror-movie stupidity" -- going where "no one with any sense" would go -- in the book, but it's excusable. Workers employed by Andrea's former lover, Rafael, are killed at a construction/mining site. The mystery rises about what was in an empty vault and where did the killing viper bites come from. The puzzle complicates when the possibility of snake weres arises ... when no snake-weres were known before.

Andrea follows the clues to solve the murder mystery no matter where it takes her. Andrea lucks out each time by coming up with both new information and a new twist in the plot line. The complications requiring Rafael's help annoy her the most. 

Andrea has always been an independent sort of girl. One who rejects being the delicate sort who needs always needs rescuing. She'll wreck her own mayhem, thank you very much. The Andrews set up the dual conflict and Andrea's problems with authority all in the first two fast moving chapters ... with a minimum of back story.  In short, Andrea'd be damned if she'd "bow and scrape" to be admitted to Clan Bouda. -- The book almost earns five stars right there.

The romance is entertaining as well. Not only does Andrea have to face a mother-in-law-from-hell in Auntie B, Rafael's mother and leader of the were-hyena clan, she has to put up with Rafael's protective instincts. How bad is Auntie B? Well, she can make the word "dear" the most threatening word in the dictionary. As for Rafael, he finds some creative ways to annoy her until she gives in and let's him back into her life. Andrea readily admits she loves him, but there's that subservient thing.  -- To say more, would destroy the fun of reading the book.

Rating: Five stars. It took me some time to review the book since my pile of "read" books is about a fourth the size of my "to-read" pile. Not only did Gunmetal Magic keep me ready "just one more chapter" past my bedtime, but it goes on my keeper pile.

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I seem to have slowed down for Christmas -- not that I'm not doing things like cards/letters. Did get the edits/revisions done for Bad Luck Emma. Now I'm be sending it out into the cold, cruel world to be rejected by agents.

Did get some good news. Pat, the Pet ... my vowel controlled, pre-primer color-a-comic has made it onto the publisher's list. Here's what Grumpy Dragon had to say:

"Pat the Pet by Kay Theodoratus.

This is a coloring book/comic for English as a Second Language readers as well as emergent readers. The focus is on short vowel sounds, and it features Pat, a lovable, goofy brown monster who would fit in well with the Muppets. This book is going to be a Lightning Source title available through The Grumpy Dragon, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. ... We also have plans for a DVD with institutional licensing as well as a coloring app for phones/tablets..."

Of course, cynical me, isn't holding her breath. As I said somewhere ... maybe around Christmas 2013?

Announcing: Pat, the Pet

Can't leave well enough alone. Still, can't do Google+ with facility and I'm setting up another web presence. Grumpy Dragon Press is getting close to releasing Pat, the Pet.  Pat is the "star" of a color-a-comic, vowel-controlled pre-primer. How's that for a mouthful, but that pretty much defines what Pat, the Pet is. 

Pat is now up on Twitter as @PatthePet. It'd be nice if someone followed me. Springlea, the editor at Grumpy Dragon, says they have a marketing guru to help authors market. It might be worth it to compare the development of Pat, the Pet to Taking Vengeance, where I learned what little I know about social networking/marketing.

Yeah, I consider Pat, the Pet a fantasy.