Do vampires celebrate Christmas? See for yourself:
Through the magic of literary time travel we return to 1938 Chicago, swooping in on the star of The Vampire Files, undead private eye Jack Fleming. He’s just come down to the lobby of his swank nightclub when girlfriend Bobbi Smythe bursts in. Eyes bright, she’s hatted, gloved, and in a hurry.
Bobbi: Jack, come on!
Fleming: But I just got up.
Bobbi: It’s not like you need coffee.
Fleming: I need something else, sweetheart. Maybe you’d like to… (Canoodling sounds ensue, followed by Bobbi’s giggling.) …have a little chase around the Christmas tree?
Bobbi: Later, big boy. We have to get moving while the stores are still open.
Fleming: We’re shopping?
Bobbi: We’re Christmas shopping. It’s special!
Fleming: I don’t have to actually shop, do I? Just carry stuff?
Bobbi: That’s right.
Fleming: No problem.
Bobbi: First we’ll go to Marshall Field on Lake Street—
(Loud pounding on the front door of the club.)
Fleming: It’s a hit! Get down!
Bobbi: Stop that, it’s just your biographer, Pat Elrod.
Fleming: Like I said, get down!
Bobbi: Knock it off and behave. She went to a lot of trouble to travel back for a visit. Try to get along with her, okay? Please?
Fleming: For you, honey, anything.
Bobbi: Good!
Fleming: But I’m not carrying her stuff.
(P.N. Elrod pushes through the door.)
P. N. Elrod: Hey, Fleming! How’s it going?
Fleming: How’s what going?
Bobbi: That’s how people say hello in the 21st century.
Fleming: Oh, okay. It’s going to—uh—Marshall Field?
Elrod: Huh?
Fleming: What do I know from the 21st century? This is 1938—what’s left of it.
Elrod: Times change, brother. For instance, Marshall Field isn’t there in my time. It’s a bookstore.
Fleming: They use that huge building just to sell books?
Elrod: Isn’t it great? More books than you can shake a machine gun at. Hardcovers, mass-market paperbacks, trade paperbacks—
Fleming: Trade what?
Elrod: Like hardcovers, but cheaper, only ten to fifteen dollars.
Fleming: That’s a week’s pay for most people! The most expensive book I ever got cost three bucks!
Elrod: I bet it was hardcover, too. Where I’m from you can’t get a paperback for three bucks unless it’s used. Inflation sucks, but it’s good that paperbacks caught on.
Bobbi: I remember they only used to sell those at Woolworths. Now they’re all over the place.
Elrod: Which is great for us! Still, it’d be neat if I could go to Chicago in my time and do a signing in the old Marshall Fields building. You guys should come.
Bobbi: We’d love to!
Fleming: If you’re signing a Vampire Files book, then we can’t help but be there. I mean, without us, you wouldn’t be—
Bobbi: (warningly) Jack…
Fleming: —almost famous.
Bobbi: Jack!
Elrod: Don’t worry about it, Bobbi. This guy cracks me up. I’ll return the favor in the next book. (Narrows eyes ominously at Fleming.) Count on it.
Fleming: Now just a minute, Elrod—
Bobbi: (Interrupting) What do you think of the club’s Christmas lights, Pat?
Elrod: I love ’em! I bet they don’t go up until after Thanksgiving, either. Where I’m from the stores set out the Christmas stuff before Halloween.
Bobbi: You’re kidding!
Elrod: Sadly, no. That’s why I love coming back to the 30s. Sure, you’ve got the Depression and other bad things going on, but this is a restful haven. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Fleming: (outraged) Restful haven!? After what you did to me in the latest book?
Elrod: Conflict, conflict, conflict! Readers love it!
Fleming: I have to live it! Or try to. You don’t make it easy, y’know.
Elrod: Hey, you did all right in that story in Strange Brew. You’re a tough guy. Deal.
Fleming: I’ll deal with you, ya dizzy dame. Why I oughta—
Bobbi: Jack, you promised!
(The lights go out.)
Elrod: Oh, now that’s cool. Myrna? Is that you?
(The lights come on.)
Elrod: I’ve been wanting to meet you! I’m just sorry the conversation has to be so one-sided. I bet you have all the dish on what goes on here!
Fleming: You know about Myrna the ghost?
Elrod: Of course I do! She’s famous. People love you, Myrna. Keep up the good work.
(The light behind the bar flickers).
Bobbi: I think she likes you, Pat.
Elrod: Hey, what’s not to like?
(Fleming starts to speak; Bobbi kicks his ankle.)
Fleming: Ow! Uh-uhhh….Pat! Would you like some eggnog?
Elrod: I’d love some, thank you!
(Fleming grunts and limps off.)
Elrod: (Rounding on Bobbi.) You are bad, girl. Just bad!
Bobbi: And that’s a good thing in your time, right?
Elrod: Oh, hell, yes. Girl power!
(The lights flicker.)
Bobbi: It’s unanimous!
Christmas Week Guest Blog and Giveaway: Magic on a Winter's Night by Carol Berg
First a little bit of introduction, and then onto Carol Berg's awesome post! This week we're celebrating the holidays with a line-up of guest bloggers, including Carol, Michele Lang, Michelle Celmer, Twila Belk and a very special mega-blog on Friday featuring New York TImes bestselling authors Marjorie M. Liu, Rachel Caine, Christie Golden and Nalini Singh! As part of the celebration ALL of the authors are giving away signed copies of their books and TKA is hosting a special scavenger hunt! S.L. Wright at Star-Crossed Romance
In other guest-blogging and giveaway news, S.L. Wright has a free copy of her new urban fantasy CONFESSIONS OF A DEMON for one lucky commenter over at Star-Crossed Romance. Check out her killer cover!
Shall I start with Diana Orgain's upcoming appearance on The View from the Bay on Wednesday, November 18th from 3:00 to 4:00 pacific? It should be a five minute segment on ABC Channel 7 right before Oprah.
How about the great two part interview on Examiner.com with Sarah A. Hoyt (fantasy, mystery =and= science fiction writer)? Part I and Part II
Or the great new review of Vamped from The Sassy Librarian and a reminder of the signing at the Borders on Dale Mabry in Tampa from 2-3 eastern this Saturday, November 21st?
Lynn Flewelling's guest blog on A Novel Friend about staying in love with your characters? (For her LJ
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otterdance .)Chloe Neill's guest blog on Vampire Chix on Vampire Myths Worldwide?
1- Chloe Neill is interviewed today over at A Great Read and Amberkatze's Book Blog and running a contest to go along with. Check it out!
2- I'm interviewed today about Vamped over at Reading Keeps You Sane (I just love that blog title!) and at the Daily Commercial regarding the library talks I'll be doing on Wednesday, the 23rd.
I also want to wish a happy release day to D.D. Barant for DYING BITES and Patti O'Shea for EDGE OF DAWN!
Everything Old Can Be New Again – or – Reanimating a Dead Trope.
By Faith Hunter
I’m not a necromancer, nor am I a zombie maker, nor do spend time in graveyards digging up the dead. I’m weird enough without adding any of that to my list of nightly activities! I’m a writer who wants to explore new twists on an old(ish) literary form, the urban fantasy. Most of the characters in urban fantasy are well known, some to the point of becoming tropes. In this sense, I’m using “tropes” as character types that have been so well used they are achieving their own mythos and becoming their own metaphors for an entire genre. In this case it’s vampire genre, witch genre, magic user in a modern, metropolitan genre. Urban fantasy. Natch!
The old saying that there is nothing new under the sun is true, but writers have to take the old, dead, worn out bones of existing ideas, and give them fresh skin and new forms by tossing in twists, manipulating the expected, and bending character types into the unexpected. Otherwise they won’t stand out in a genre already bloated beyond belief by the walking dead and undead tropes. Did that sound too much like varied descriptions of corpses? Hmmm. Maybe it’s just me.
To make my book SKINWALKER stand out in a crowd, I have taken the trope of the skinwalker—the non-human being who looks human, but who can change her form into any creature—and twisted it around to create a main character who has her roots in the ancient tribal myths of shape shifters, but is also innovative and singular. With these changes, Jane Yellowrock stands alone as a POV character in the genre.
Then I took the idea of vampires, gave them a unique history and their own creation myth, and viola, we have the nemeses who are both her employers and her targets. There is little that is black and white in Jane Yellowrock’s world; everything is gray and shifting and the battle of survival takes place in the midst of it all. And in SKINWALKER Jane is expected to bring down the most violent, secretive, whacked-out vamp New Orleans has ever seen.
So. How’d I do that? Make Jane stand out? Oh, it was suuuweeet!
The mythos of the skinwalker is present in almost every tribe in the world, but perhaps strongest in American Indian lore. Skinwalkers are usually dark and gory, evil creatures that kill and eat their victims. But according to the oral tradition of one Cherokee elder to whom I spoke while researching, the skinwalker was originally a good, positive, protective being who looked after the tribe, fought for it, and kept it safe. Then, something happened. The lore isn’t clear what occurred, but the skinwalker became evil, killing and eating children, young women, the beautiful. It took on a darkness that reminds me of European lore, the Grimm darkness, if you will! Then—skinwalkers disappeared.
From that history and mythos, comes Jane Yellowrock, an orphan who walked out of Appalachian Mountains, scared, scared, and with no memories at all of her past—no name, no language, no socialization skills, a feral child that, rumor says, was raised by wolves. Presumed to be about twelve years old, Jane is taken in by a children’s home where she is raised until she is eighteen, taught language, educated, and provided the skills to survive in the world. Now, ten years later, Jane hunts rogue vampires for a living, hiding her true skinwalker nature in a world where none exist, always hoping to find another being like her. But as far as she can tell, she is a singularity—one of a kind.
Learning by trial and error how to use her magic, Jane is able to keep herself alive in a dangerous world. She has discovered that if she has sufficient, viable, genetic material, she can turn into a nonhuman being. However, Jane has something inside her that isn’t mentioned in the old skinwalker lore, isn’t mentioned in any mythology in all the whole of human—and nonhuman—history. She has another soul inside with her, the soul of a Beast who is her friend, and perhaps, also her enemy. Beast has her own motives, memories, and her own agenda.
I hope you will read SKINWALKER and meet Jane Yellowrock and Beast.
Faith Hunter
www.faithhunter.net
Links to Facebook and MySpace on my website.
Summer Reads That Will Blow Your Mind—Brought To You By Rose Hilliard At St. Martin’s
I’ve spent the past year working with my authors and all the great people at St. Martin’s putting together a killer summer list, and I’m so excited that readers can finally enjoy these amazing summer reads as much as I have. That’s why I became an editor in the first place—to publish great books. I’ve always been a huge book lover, and there’s nothing better than knowing I was the vehicle who brought a brilliant book from writer to readers. Talk about rewarding!
So here’s my summer list. And people, I have to admit, I’ve really outdone myself this time. Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge just came out, and it’s a little something different. It’s the first book in Caitlin’s new “Black London” urban fantasy series, which has a great the twist—it’s very romantic, but the protagonist is a guy. Jack Winter (the lead character) has major attitude, he’s super funny, and cool as hell--I think I might even have a little crush on him. Another book I’m super excited about is I’m Down by Mishna Wolff, which isn’t romance, urban fantasy or young adult like most of my books. I’m Down is a hilarious dysfunctional family memoir (think Augusten Burroughs, but written by a woman) and I’m in love with this funny, deeply moving book to the point of insanity.
Another one of my summer books that just came out is Secret Ties by Opal Carew, an erotic romance about a woman who gets into a BDSM foursome relationship (three dudes, a woman and some handcuffs). Opal is the first author I bought when I came over to St. Martin’s three years ago, and she’s not only a brilliant writer, she’s also the nicest woman in the world—so her books have a special place in my heart. I also have some truly fantastic romances coming out—Wickedly Ever After by Michelle Marcos, the last book in her steamy, funny, emotional “Pleasure Emporium” trilogy; Loves Me, Loves Me Knot, a funny, sexy knitting romance by Heidi Betts; and Can’t Stand The Heat—the first book in a new culinary series by mega-talented editor-turned-author Louisa Edwards. If you have any interest in food or cooking (and you like your romance chock full of hot guys and hot sex) then you must pick up this book.
Blue Moon by Alyson Noel comes out in about a week, and words can’t express how excited I am for it to hit the shelves. Oh, readers have such a treat in store for them—they have no idea! I’m not one to wish away weeks of my life, but it’s been truly painful waiting for Blue Moon to come out. Alyson’s first book in the “Immortals” series, Evermore, was an instant best seller (#1 on the Times list, baby!), and Blue Moon tells what happens next—and readers are going to be blown away. I also have two big anthologies coming out in July: Strange Brew and Huntress. Strange Brew features stories by Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris and Patricia Briggs, and Huntress features stories by Christine Warren and Marjorie M. Liu. It’s always a treat to edit stories by authors who you’ve been a personal fan of for years, which was definitely the case with these killer anthologies.
Now that I’m looking over my summer line-up, it strikes me what amazing taste I have in books—and how lucky I am to work with such talented authors. Every single one of these books is brilliant and has been an absolute pleasure to work on. Man, I can’t believe I get paid to do this!
Stacey Kade and I did a few panels together at the Romantic Times Conference in Orlando and then a talk last month at a school in Celebration along with Linnea Sinclair (see post). And yes, we were separated at birth, much like her heroine's head was separated from her shoulders (see above pic taken from Stacey's website). I'm really looking forward to her YA debut THE GHOST AND THE GOTH, coming out in summer 2010 from Disney-Hyperion.
While she's here today talking about flawed characters, I'm guest blogging over at The Graveyard Shift talking about how I do it all and still manage to sleep (sort of). I hope you'll check it out! Also, there's still plenty of time to get in on the Vamped giveaway. See here.
Perfectly Imperfect: Fun with Flawed Characters by Stacey Kade
When I first started writing, I struggled with the idea of creating flawed characters. How could I expect a reader to root for someone who was—at times or repeatedly—cruel or short tempered or selfish? I wanted everyone to like these people who came from my head.
I understood on a rational level that we, as readers, don’t enjoy reading about perfect people because they’re boring. Still, it was hard to create a main character I didn’t like—except as a villain, of course!
I was intrigued by the idea, though, so I started looking for instances of unlikeable characters who somehow managed to make me feel for them. I wanted to understand how it worked.
Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs, I found, is a great example of this. Even though he’s a face-eating cannibal, don’t we all cheer for him just a little when he escapes?
Dr. Gregory House on House M.D. is another fine example, particularly because he is positioned as the hero of the show. He’s insufferably arrogant, cruel, and petty, but millions of us tune in every week to find out what happens to him next. Yes, there’s the whole “train wreck” element at work in our fascination with watching House destroy himself and the few relationships he has left, but it’s more than that. It’s not just about the sensationalism of watching an undoubtedly brilliant and talented man go down in flames, it’s also that we care. We want him to wake up and be the better (albeit less interesting) man we know he can be.
I was getting closer to understanding why flawed characters were so intriguing, but I still didn’t completely get how to make it work. How much was too much?
Then I discovered a little show called Battlestar Galactica (the reboot, not the original).
Holy crap. If you want an education in flawed characters, this should be your primary textbook.
( Read more... )Stacey Kade’s first YA novel, The Ghost and The Goth, is due out Summer 2010 from Disney-Hyperion. Visit www.staceykade.com for more information, or follow her on Twitter, www.twitter.com/StaceyKade.
I hope y'all have enjoyed historical romance week so far! I have one more guest blog on the subject set for Monday. In the meantime, in case you have the inclination and enough time on your hands to take the full tour, here's a somewhat comprehensive list of the guest blogs and interviews I've done (and haven't already mentioned here) in support of my new release Vamped (think Clueless meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Kelly Parra's blog - interview with some behind-the-scenes details
Shanna Swendson's blog - interview including my soon-to-be infamous Mafia princess photo from high school
BookRoast.blogspot.com - roasted over a hot open fire
April Henry's blog - interview about life's scariest moments and mysteries
Amanda Ashby's blog - wherein we agree that Joss Whedon is The Bomb
More Girlfriends' Cyber Cuircuit Interviews!
Diana Rodriguez Wallach's blog
Alyson Noel's blog
Sara Hantz's blog
Jennifer Echols' blog
Jennifer Banash's blog
Stephanie Kuehnert's blog
Megan Crane's blog
Stacy DeKeyser's blog
Eileen Cook's blog
Don't forget to come party with us all month long at Shooting Stars Magazine and enter for the chance to win a whole load of goodies!
I'm here at fantastic debut author Chloe Neill's site today talking about the Stages of Disbelief. A lot like the stages of grief, only better. (Note: Check out Chloe's fantastic new release SOME GIRLS BITE.)
Here at Diana Pharaoh Francis's blog with an interview about both writing and agenting. (Note: Check out Di's awesome new release THE TURNING TIDE.)
At Karin Gillespie's Granny Panties blog with another interview. (Those of you at the fondue dinner at RWA a few years ago know exactly why that's so funny!)
My husband and I announced our engagement thirteen years ago today. I remember specifically, because a certain
suricattus responded with an "Uh huh, tell me again tomorrow," which baffled me until I realized the date.
Next week I'm going to feature a guest author from the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit, Laurie Faria Stolartz, and also probably post Gina's thoughts and best wishes for the holiday season. For those just tuning in, Gina is the heroine from my forthcoming novel VAMPED, and boy is she opinionated!In the meantime, here's that pic I took of the frisky moths, the one I'd sent in to National Geographic. (Someone asked about this recently. Thank you! It didn't get anywhere, but looking at the finalists, I'm not surprised. In fact, I'm a little embarrassed that I thought for a second I might be in that realm.)
I can't think of a genre Doranna Durgin hasn't written in. The above covers are just the latest samples of her range of work, romantic suspense to mainstream paranormal tie-in. Her second veterinary mystery, SCENT OF DANGER, is forthcoming in December. In addition she's written kick-butt romances for Silhouette's Bombshell line, upcoming paranormal romances for Tor Romance and Silhouette Nocturne, science fiction tie-ins (Star Trek and Earth: Final Conflict), fantasy for Baen Books.... The list goes on and on, but you can check it all out on her website or sign up for her newsletter for more info.
And now, without further ado, Doranna's guest blog on the differences and similarities in writing for so many different genres.
Once upon a time, I wrote fantasy. It was the natural thing to
do...my native genre. I never supposed there would come a day when
people would say, "How do you keep all those genres straight?"
Well, hullo, Day!
Because now here I am, writing fantasy...and media/game tie-ins, and
mystery, and various flavors of romance. It wasn't a planned
thing. Call it opportunistic, or stability via diversification, or
even eyes-bigger-than-stomach. It certainly helps that I was a
reader across all those genres long before I had the chance to write
in them... But now it doesn't seem as though I'm ever doing the same
thing twice in a row. Currently I'm celebrating the release of
Hidden Steel (romantic thriller/suspense), getting ready to see the
first Ghost Whisperer hit the shelves, and making up postcard designs
for Scent of Danger (mystery).
It all writes differently, of course. The books come from different
places within, each with an emphasis on a different element of the
craft. But I think that's what makes it work for me--the
differences. It keeps my muse from making assumptions...it keeps
things fresh. Instead of getting stuck in a rut, I've got to think
about the heart of the book--whether it's coming from world &
character (for fantasy) to plot & clue (for mystery) to relationships
(for romance). Every time I make a decision about how should I crank
up the stakes, I do a little refresh--where am I? What's my story
place for this one?
The thing is, it also all writes the same. I already know the true
heart of each book--it comes from the characters. I already know I'm
going to be a bit of a smarty pants, because I always am.
I also know I'll work animals into the equation if I can--even way
off to the side--because that's so much a part of my own world
view. Dun Lady's Jess couldn't be more equine if it tried (ahhhh,
bliss), the mysteries delight in the Beagle side of the force, and
everywhere else, cats, dogs, and horses have their walk-on parts as
suits the story--Old Cat in the Kimmer & Rio Rules series, Luka the
horse in next spring's Sentinel, and shoot, it took me completely by
surprise when Joe Ryan turned out to have four cats in Dark
Sentinel. I'm not even a cat person! (Joe doesn't think he is,
either...) Of course, the Sentinel series is shapeshifter stuff, so
I'm pretty much immersed in critters from the start, from the prosaic
to the exotic. It's all about character, and getting the feel of the
creature in question.
And then there are the relationships. That hearkens right back to
character. Relationships between characters, relationships within
character (because they have to figure themselves out as much as
anything, or what's the fun?)...the relationships of the characters
to what's happening around them. For me, that's the bottom line; the
genre stuff is just window dressing, the structure used to present
what's happening with the characters.
So it's all different, and that's great--it keeps it all alive and
full of question. But really, yeah, it's all the same. Oh, sure,
there's the small matter of figuring out editor and market
expectations (and then meeting them--!) And making sure to stay in
the right head space for each project. But down there in the heart
of it, where it matters, I'm just writing the stuff that's important
to me, and that's not hard to keep straight at all.
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