Vol. 1 Issue 6 - 6.30.09

Articles
* YA Books for Boys by Brian Kel
* Interview - Lili St. Crow
* Interview - Rachel Caine
* Review - Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede
* Review - Hero by Perry Moore
* Review - Strange Angels by Lili St. Crow
* Review - Morganville Vampires by Rachel Caine
* Review - Shiver by Maggie Steifwater

Fiction:

* Clarity's Companion - Joanna Gardner
* Dance Floor Tragedy - Lilah Wild
* The Gate Between Worlds - Kenneth Mark Hoover
* Got Milk2 + Homework = Magic - Che Gilson
* Powers That Be - Dennis R Upkins
* Quiet Haunts - Kristopher Reisz
* Saints Chosen - T.A. Moore
* The Exorcist - Aleksandra Butowt
* The Proper Way to Eat a Poison Apple - Rich Mallery
* Weaving Threads - Michael Merriam
* Welcome to the Club - Julie Klumb

He pushed my bed through the doors, and I hissed as the glaring light in the main hall hit my eyes. It was doubly as bright as the other room had been if not more. I clamped them shut, while he whistled off key through the corridor.

“You can open your eyes now. It’s darker in here.” He grinned as he shoved a needle into a shunt on my elbow. “I’d have warned you, but we keep it bright like that to keep the noobs like you from running amok. It’s better if it’s a surprise.”

“Right.” I watched as he hooked a bag of blood substitute to the tube. “I think you like watching us twitch, so you don’t say anything because you’re a sadistic fuck.”

“You’re probably right there. I’ll be back in about half another and hook you up again. Once you’re full, I’ll let you go and give you access to your room.” Harry chuckled and slapped me on the stomach with the flat of his hand.

- working on a new novel - there is no better feeling.

I've been a BPAL junkie for a few years, although my addiction is under control now. I have a scent picked out for each of my boys. I like to wear them when I'm writing for them.

Denver Sinclair: Tombstone -
A celebration of one of the first commercially produced perfumes of America's Old West.
A rugged, warm blend of vanilla, balsam and sassafras layered over Virginia cedar.

Jace Winters: Centzon Totochtin (I can't pronounce it either) -
The Four Hundred divine rabbits of the Aztec pantheon that preside over parties and drunkenness.
Bittersweet Mexican cocoa with rum, red wine, and a scent redolent of sacrificial blood.

Jack Dawson: The Scales of Deprivation -
Thin, dark, and shadowed.
A scent that offers no sustenance, comfort or satiety: lemon peel, white sage, frankincense, lavender fougere, sandalwood, vetiver and laudanum.

As per my usual, I went back to bed at about 6am this morning after hanging out with the boys for an hour. Read the first section of Serial. (Free book for Kindle.) Like the first character. He's a real bastard. Careful too, which I like in my serial killers.

Anyhoo I got to thinking about Jace Winters. My poor put upon vampire cop from Ante Up, and Denver's best friend in present. Jace has turned into a stereotype. When I wrote her she seemed different, but since then I've encountered other characters that are too much like her Lindsey Boxer from the Women's Murder Club and Kate Becket from Castle for example. It worried me. How was I going to write Jace when other people already have?

My solution - Jace is getting a sex change - Jacklyn Winters is now going to be Jason Winters. The Denver/Jace dynamic has always been a best friend thing. It's a buddy cop movie book not a romance. So with Jace being male it's about two guys - one's a cop, one's a conman - both are vampires. Jace is still divorced, and he's lost custody of his daughter because he's become a vampire... Hell someday when I'm published the little fangirls can write Denver/Jace slash all they want.

And to be honest, I suck at writing women. Jace was never much of a girl.

May 2009 - Issue Three, Volume One

Fiction
* Blue by Catherine Knutsson
* Emergency Repairs by Glenn Lewis Gillette
* Eridian Ice by T.A. Moore
* Liver and Onions by C.M. Shelvin
* Memories by Nu Yang
* The Corruption by Brian Dolton
* To Stone by Shannon Page and Jay Lake
* What Must Be Done by Gary McMahon

Morrigan Books - Grant's Pass Extras
* Snake Oil by David Priebe
* Warlord of Rhode Island by Rick Silva

Small Press Interview - Verb Noir by T.A. Moore

Featured Artist - George Cotronis

Reviews and Articles
* Magic Strikes Review by Reece Notley
* Sleight of Hand by Joss Lanyon
* Partners in Crime 4 Review by Emerald Jaguar

State of the Crow - Morrigan Books

Articles

* C.E. Murphy - Author Interview by Neal Levin
* J. F Lewis - Author Interview by J.Lee Moffatt
* Turn Coat by Jim Butcher - Review by Brian Rubin
* The Remy Chandler Novels by Thomas E. Sneigoski - Review by J.Lee Moffatt
* Bad to the Bone by Jeri Smith-Ready - Review by J.Lee Moffatt

Fiction:

* A Closed Market by Kate O'Connor
* All the Beautiful Girls by Corby Kennard
* Fleeing Missoula by T.M. Thomas
* Sea Devil by Kenneth Mark Hoover
* The Bus Stop by Gary J. Beharry
* Two Vampires and a Panel Discussion by Catherine Schaff-Stump
* When Not in Use by Philip Roberts

Featured Artist

* Leo Ryan

Revisions are like treading water in alphabet soup. You add 400 words here, cut out 600 words there. The writing gets stronger not longer.

A guy on Twitter asked me why I don't ask one of the authors I chat with there to pimp me to their agent.

I have several reasons, but the biggest one - THAT WOULD BE WRONG. I want to make it on my own. I may in the future ask one of the writers I'm buddies with here on LJ to read my manuscript, but I would never presume to ask one of them to pimp me to their agent. That's not something a friend should do.

I've never met most of these authors in person, but a few of them have been talking with me for years on LJ and now on Twitter. But to ask for an intro/pimping would be taking advantage of people I respect. People I hope trust me not to behave like every other smarmy jerk out there who asks them to say something for them or lies about it to their agent. Yes that lying thing happens all the time, btw.

My pride may get in my way. But my respect for my author friends means more to me than taking that short cut. Period.

TBR on the Kindle:
Turn Coat by Jim Butcher
The Taken by Sarah Pinboroough
Witch Heart by Anya Bast
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead
Kitty Raises Hell by Carrie Vaughn
Hunted - House of Night #5 - PC and Kristin Cast

TBR - ARCs for reviews
Bad to the Bone - Jeri Smith-Ready
Strange Angels - Lili St. Crow

To Be Reviewed either on DoC or 3CP
Undone - Rachel Caine
Blue Diablo - Anne Aquirre
Dancing on the Head of a Pin - Thomas Sneigowshi
Flames Rising by Michael Laimo
Blood Vice by Keith Melton

Interviews to do -
Rachel Caine
JF Lewis
Lilith Saintcrow

Articles to write -
Where Did the Things That Go Bump in the Night Go?

Revisions - Working on Dead Man's Hand

April - Drops of Crimson #4
May - Three Crow Press #3
June - Drops of Crimson #5 - YA issue

Just hit a point in Dead Man's Hand where I want to do some major shifts in the order of things. I think it'll be a hell of a lot easier to do than the regular polishing I've been doing thanks to my betas - naomi_jay and tammy_moore. I passed the idea by Tamm aka Plot Bunny #1, and she agreed with the change. Now I just have to get it down in pixels.

Making Lily a more vibrant part of the novel has been a good change. I'm enjoying the revisions a lot. Hope the agent who wanted the full back likes the changes too, and hell if she doesn't it isn't as if I can't resub all over the place. As my daddy said "The more shit you throw against the wall; the more that sticks."

I want to be done with the rewrite by the end of the month. Don't know if I can do it with DoC coming out this month too, but I'm going to try. I want to do maynowrimo. Be kind of sucky of me to make a comm to write a novel in a month, and then not show up to do it.

Jack is too much of a prick, and he's meant to be one. But to keep people reading I need to reveal the reason why earlier. I don't to the big ta-da until Nichole's second chapter (chapter 4), but now I realize that I need to drop that information into her first chapter. Without it I don't anyone would read past chapter three because Jack is such a total bastard. No one would be sympathetic to his plight otherwise. I swear to God though, these first four chapters are going to be restructured and tweaked half a dozen times before I move onto the next section of the story.

Finished your novel? Ready to send it out to an agent?

First you have to get your query letter right. It's your first contact with the agent and you have to make a good impression.

Query Project is a community of writers - some of whom have landed that prize agent and some of whom are still trying - who will provide critical feedback on your query letter. We won't tell you how to write the letter, but once you've written it we can give you feedback.

Interested?

Join us at The Query Project.

I used to read a lot of horror books. My mom raised me on Creature Feature and Dark Shadows, so being scared was one of my favorite things. But I haven't read a horror novel in YEARS. Seriously I don't remember the last one I read. Might have been Poppy Z. Brite? Not sure...

I'd like to read a couple to review on Three Crow Press, since it's more on the horror end of things rather than urban fantasy like Drops of Crimson. So my ghoulish friends, care to make some recommendations for me? If the books are available on Kindle or ebooks, so much the better. Only true horror please no urban fantasy.

Thanks for your help!

My dearest BFF, tammy_moore, found this helpful link for me.

Active Voice




Passive Voice




Now back to work!!!

Thou Shalt Not Use a Passive Voice
Thou Shalt Not Use a Passive Voice
Thou Shalt Not Use a Passive Voice

repeat as necessary....

I spent hours this morning, and I mean hours ripping the passive voice out of Dawson's Law. Just the first chapter took me all morning. It's a bad habit I need to break. I debating moving forward, and trying not to make the same mistakes. But instead I decided to jump into the revisions to basically slap myself with a ruler. Let me tell you after three hours of editing I've learned my lesson.

I hope. Tomorrow I'm jumping into the chapter two edits. One more day of intense aversion therapy...

I love tammy_moore. She's been my plot bunny, bestest writing friend for ten years now. This morning she reminded me why when she figured out exactly what I needed to do with Dawson's Law without even reading it. I was talking about how much easier it was for me to write for a serial killer than it was to get into a super model's brain. (No mindless model jokes. There are some very smart ladies out there who are also very pretty.)

Layne as she was in the first draft was sweet. She loves Jack. She's a demon, but she's not all that evil. She wasn't going to work in the revision where Jack has become a lot darker. Tammy reminded me of a character I created years and years ago when we were RPing on line together. That character on the other hand is a perfect match for who Jack is now. So Layne's getting a personality upgrade - how Dollhouse of me.

The book is going from Mr. & Mrs. Smith crossed with Reaper to Mr. & Mrs. Smith crossed with Constantine.

Oh yeah, it's going to be a lot nastier. So much for me writing something fluffy. It'll still be funny though, and there is going to be a HEA too.

Today I worked some more on Chapter One of Dawson's Law in which Jack became a dark, manipulative bastard. He's always been a manipulative bastard. I wrote him that way on purpose, but in the rewrite he's stepped up a notch on the fucking dick scale. I like what I wrote for him before. I like what I've written for him now too. The problem is that Dawson's Law is supposed to be funny. It's supposed to be on the scale of Mark Henry, Christopher Moore funny. Now it's shifted from the Christmas pageant full of kids dressed as lobsters hanging out at the manger to an episode of Battlestar Galactica.

The plot hasn't changed. There's even a Happily Ever After, and trust me, I never in my life thought I'd ever write a HEA. But here's the catch inbetween Jack's chapters of kicking Mr. Burns into the reactor in Springfield, I've got chapters from his wife's POV. Layne is not a bad person. She's totally in love with her scum sucking evil lawyer husband. Sure she's a demon, but she's a demon in love.

I'm not sure how to balance out the tone between the two lead characters now that I've twisted things around. It's going to make this project a lot harder than it was for the first draft.

Tomorrow I'm going to work on Layne's intro chapter. I sure hope I can pull this off.