Pamela Fryer

It's that time of year!

2011-11-06T12:08:00.000-08:00

You better watch out, you better not shout...you better not be a Grinch or Chris Kringle may drop by with a thing or two to say about it...

Okay, I admit it. I'm a grinch. Jessica Jeffries, the heroine of my Christmas novella One Snowy Night Before Christmas, is modeled a teeny-weeny bit after me. Every year when the stores start advertising earlier and earlier (I was in Walmart on November 2 and they already had Christmas decorations up) I get a little crazy. Who ever said Christmas was about indulgence and excess? Translation: spending.

So every year around November I open up a Christmas novella and tinker with it to help put me in the mood. This year I decided it was time to send One Snowy Night Before Christmas out into the world. If you're a Grinch like me, I hope it helps put you in the true Christmas spirit.

Jessica Jeffries hates Christmas. Well, who doesn’t? With all the commercialism, stress and chaos, there are a lot of people who feel the same way. But Jessie has more reason than most for hating it. She’s been robbed, dumped, caught pneumonia and broken her leg, and this year she ran over Santa Claus with her truck.

Tom Dunham’s holiday is turning out to be pretty awful. Not only is he suddenly responsible for a six-year-old daughter he hasn’t seen since infancy, but Amy holds him personally responsible for uprooting her, making it impossible for Santa to find her on Christmas morning.

Things go from bad to worse when his car breaks down on a freezing mountain road, but he gets a reprieve when a young woman who looks more like a Victoria’s Secret model than a tow-truck driver comes to their rescue. Suddenly things are looking up—until she runs over an old man with an eerie resemblance to St. Nick.

* * *

Excerpt

.....“This is some night,” he said, struggling for small talk. Why did the presence of a beautiful woman always leave him tongue-tied? He could handle himself with the ruthlessness and precision of an attacking general in the courtroom, but put him alone in a confined space with a beautiful woman and he turned into a clown. And not one of those witty, cute clowns that could make balloon animals, but one of those clumsy, funny looking ones that were always the butt-end of the joke.

.....“Caught you unaware, did it?” she asked.

.....He watched her profile as she stared at the road ahead. She was a tall girl, yet delicate at the same time. With full lips, flawless skin and the well-defined bone structure of a Victoria’s Secret model, she was the last person he expected to find driving a tow truck.

.....“What has you out so late in a snowstorm?” Her words faltered near the end of her question, as though she decided too late it was a personal question.

.....“We’re on our way home from Sacramento. There was an accident on I-5 and I thought cutting off the main highway would save some time.”

.....“Ah well, don’t worry. This weather can surprise the best of us.”

.....“The ‘best of us’ are smart enough to buy this stuff.” He fingered a wrinkle in her heavy polar jacket. “Right after Christmas, I’m going to buy a suit of armor like this for us both.”

.....Apparently Amy didn’t know he was talking about her, or simply didn’t care.

.....Jessie skillfully steered the massive truck around a hairpin turn. The wind pounded them, making the truck shudder. The dark night was consuming, murky. “How long have you been driving a tow truck?” he asked.

.....What a stupid question. Do you come here often? Dhur.

.....“Six years.” She didn’t take her eyes from the road to answer.

.....“Wow, I’m impressed.”

.....“Oh yeah?” Jessie glanced at him. The smile was gone, her expression hard. “Why?”

.....Note to self: open mouth only to insert foot.

.....“I…it just seems like a big job.” Criminy.

.....The sardonic smile returned. She patted his hand. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that.”

.....Touché.

.....Now he felt like a real idiot, but Jessie laughed at her own jibe, cutting his tension in half, and he chuckled along with her.

.....She picked up her radio and called in, to Hazel no doubt, telling her she’d picked up “the ducks.” The radio crackled in response, but Tom couldn’t make out any of the words. Jessie dropped the microphone back in its holder and looked past him at Amy again. “That hot chocolate getting you warmed up?”

.....Amy nodded. “Uh huh.”

.....Glory be, a response. Followed by another uncomfortable silence. Jessie slowed the truck for a tight S-turn.

.....“How’d you get stuck working through the holidays?” Even before he finished asking the question, he knew it was a mistake. He was intrigued by this delightful contradiction of beauty and strength and had lost control of his mouth.

.....“Don’t celebrate Christmas,” she answered simply.

.....“Are you Jewish?” Shut up, Dunham.

.....She glanced at him. All the sarcasm was gone, as was the glimmer in those vivid green eyes. Now they were cool, like the ocean under a stormy sky. “No, I just hate Christmas.”

.....Amy shot her a surprised look. “How can you hate Christmas?” Her already shrill voice hit a high-note, as though it were the most outrageous thing she’d ever heard.

.....For a moment Jessie’s hardness faltered. Her eyes were almost sad. No…hurt was a better way to describe them. “I’ve just had a lot of bad luck at Christmas, that’s all.”

.....As she looked at the road again, her face suddenly registered shock. “Oh my God!” She hit the brakes, sending the truck sliding to a stop, but not fast enough. Whatever was in the road, it made a sickening thud as it impacted the front grille.

Ava does it again!

2011-10-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

For the moment Ava Bradley has more books than Pamela Fryer (unless you count my free short story) but come November 1st, Pamela will catch up.

Today is the launch of Ava Bradley’s second historical, Lord of Darkness from Blush Historical Romance. This is a sweet romance (sensual but no heat) that came from a special place in my heart. In Regency and Victorian times, ladies often had musical talents, as more occupational pursuits were off limits. When I set out to write Victoria’s story, I wanted to push the bar in this area, like many modern romance authors do. I not only made her a skilled pianist, I made her an exceptional concert pianist.

I played piano myself as a child, and while never exceptional, I could (sort of) read music, and plunk out a variety of pieces. As an adult I missed the piano, so I bought myself a digital instrument. This wasn’t a keyboard, it had 88 weighted keys and sounded exactly like a real piano. It also came with some neat features, like headphones that produced vivid sound only I could hear as I practiced. And thank goodness for that, because I did not retain any of my mediocre childhood talent! I sold the piano and let my love of piano music live through my character, Victoria Conrad, instead. She’s a plain girl longing for her simpler past who tries to run away from a betrothal, but ends up in a much more complicated situation as the prisoner of an earl!

Lord of Darkness is available now as a digital download, and will be released soon in print.

The night Victoria Conrad runs away doesn’t turn out at all like she planned. After being accosted by two ruffians, she is rescued by the Earl of Carlisle’s coachmen and taken to his country house—only to discover she is his prisoner.

Alastair Saville returned from the war horribly scarred from painful injuries, the last heir to an earldom he doesn’t want. But the single purpose consuming his thoughts is revenge against the man Alastair blames for his sister’s death—Ellison Montgomery. He kidnaps Victoria to prevent her marriage to Ellison, intending to bring the man to ruin through poverty and scandal.

Once he has Victoria as his unwilling guest, she ceases to serve as an anonymous tool in his quest. Vivacious and alluring, she brings light into Alastair’s shattered existence.

Excerpt

The carriage rolled to a stop at the grand entry and Jenkins came awake with a snort. “Ah, here we are.” He hopped out and helped her down.

“Are you sure the earl is awake?” Victoria asked, hesitating. “It is quite late.”

“Lord Carlisle keeps late hours,” Jenkins explained. “He’s probably about to sup.” He took her hand and escorted her up the stone steps to the front doors.

Whatever rumors Victoria had heard about the estate’s disrepair were quickly dashed. Well-dusted paintings covered the walls and a polished suit of medieval armor graced a grand entry hall whose glossy marble floor shone like glass.

“There you are, Jenkins.” A plump housekeeper hurried over. She had rosy cheeks and a friendly smile to rival the valet’s. “I’m Mrs. White, head of staff here at Rosecliffe. You may call me Martha.” She turned to gently scold Jenkins. “Look at her, the poor dear is frozen through! Why, you must come inside and warm yourself by the fire.”

“Er, Mrs. White, this is Miss Conrad, the pianist performing at Albert’s. She had a bit of a rough encounter with some street thugs this evening. Aburu and I offered to drive her home and since Lord Carlisle is such an admirer of her music, I asked if she would be so good as to thank him personally.”

For the space of an instant, Mrs. White returned a look of pure confusion. “Ah! Yes, of course.”

She urged Victoria between two curved staircases and into the large drawing room beyond. “Poor dear, it must have been awful. Make yourself comfortable while I get you some tea.”

Before Victoria could protest, the woman hurried away.

She took in the grand room. Like the entry hall, the room was elegantly decorated in rich plum and forest green.

Victoria’s breath caught as her gaze found the stunning black Ibach in the far corner. She walked over, but refrained from running her hands across its satiny finish. There wasn’t a fingerprint or speck of dust upon it. It was the finest piano she’d ever seen. She glanced at her dirtied gloves, noting the grimy stains where the brigand had seized her wrist and an undesirable smear the other had left behind when he’d snatched her coin purse. It would be best not to touch anything in this fine house.

“Here we are, dear.” Mrs. White bustled in, carrying a tea set on a tray. “This’ll warm your bones,” she said with a hint of Ireland dancing across her tongue.

The first touch of unease prickled Victoria’s skin. Where was the mysterious earl?

Mrs. White poured a steaming cup of tea. “Do you take sugar, Miss Conrad?”

The woman was so polite Victoria felt guilty for her growing irritation. Tonight hadn’t turned out at all like she’d planned. She suddenly wanted very much to go back to the townhouse. She would find another way to deal with her sister, short of running away like a temperamental child.

“No, thank you.” She sat and took a sip of the minty tea, noting a hint of orange and lavender. “Mrs. White, is his lordship about? I really am very tired—”

“Of course you are, dear.” Mrs. White smiled with sympathy in her eyes, as if she knew exactly how awful the night had been. “Perhaps I should show you to your room.”

“Oh no, you’ve misunderstood.” She stood, still clutching her cup and saucer. “I must return home. Tonight.”

Mrs. White suddenly looked like a deer that had caught the scent of a hunter. The sliver of unease Victoria felt turned into undeniable dread.

“Miss Conrad will not be leaving tonight,” a deep voice rumbled, and Victoria dropped her teacup.

Buy Lord of Darkness

New Name, New Book!

2011-08-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

Times, they are a changing...

It used to be that for an author to self publish, they had to foot all the costs of putting their book into print, (typeset, cover art, binding, printing, shipping, schlepping, etc.,) and then had to drive around with said very expensive boxes in their trunk, selling to whatever bookstore (or shady guy in an alley wearing a trench coat) they could get to listen. This was after playing the role of writer, editor, proofer…

While authors today still carry the majority of the promo and marketing burden (and will always continue to do so) in the past an author who printed up their own book faced an insurmountable journey in getting the word out there. Even as recent as ten years ago, the internet was a much quieter place than it is today.

Enter Amazon. The world’s largest bookseller. Jeff Bezos has had a turbulent love/hate relationship with authors for years, with more conflict-laden issues than your favorite high school tv drama. But for all the complaints and condemnation, what Amazon has done for authors is nothing short of magical. I say this as a reformed skeptic.

My first ebook, written under a pseudonym and sold through Loose Id, a popular erotic online bookseller, sold 435 copies and earned $788.00 the first nine months after it was released. In total, it’s earned me $1401. The second book in what turned out to be a trilogy has earned a total of $1538. (*At the time of writing this blog. The royalties keep trickling in, so the books continue to earn.) This is all from a brand new name with a modicum of internet-based promotion by me. Another stand-alone title sold to Ellora’s Cave, also an established on-line bookseller of erotic romance, earned $1850 in six months. Again, with a nominal amount of online promotion by me, a relatively new name in erotic romance.

So when my fellow chapter members started talking about the success they were having self-publishing their ebook titles through Amazon’s new self-publishing platform, I was skeptical. How could these people, one a traditionally published author who’d done well in New York but was self-publishing under a new name and the other a so-far unpublished author, be making tons of money through Amazon? After all, there were hundreds of thousands of books on Amazon which buyers had to wade through to find their titles, it wasn’t like they were getting front-page advertising like my books were on the week of my release at the publisher sites. I thought they were exaggerating.

“That’s not for me,” I said. I like gleaning off my publisher’s established marketing plan, having an editor hold my hand through the process, and the included copy and line editing and cover art process. Having my ISBN and copyright handled by people who knew what they were doing.

Then I saw the facts. And I choked on my skeptical tongue. The stories of the writers featured in this article are not common ones, and not everyone will have their success. While the success stories are valid, what the average reader of the Washington Post article needs to understand is Andre, Konrath and Hocking are dedicated, established writers who have put years into honing their craft, not the average Joe who decided one day to plunk down a risqué story about his really drunk Vegas getaway. (Be sure to read the public service announcement in the article). But at the same time, what I read in this article opened my eyes. Was it really possible to release my own title and actually make money on it?

After hearing my fellow chapter members’ stories, I decided to dip my toe in a purely experimental way. I self-published my two-time Golden Heart finalist, Once Upon a Midnight Sea, and I was floored by how easy it was. (And I’m pleased to say, I’m not that author who put up their book and didn’t sell a single copy.)

Okay, maybe not easy. As mentioned earlier, after writing my book, I had to play the role of editor, typesetter, proofer…you get the picture. And it took me about 4 tries to get the Kindle formatting right. But what Amazon has done for me has made it possible to earn thousands on a book New York previously wouldn’t touch because it couldn’t be slotted neatly into a marketing package. And I quote “It’s not an American-set Victorian or a London-set historical.” “Books at sea don’t sell.”

The initial cost to authors is minimal. Ebooks aren’t required to have an ISBN, but for authors who prefer to have one (myself included) one can be obtained free, or for under $10 at Smashwords—another ebook retailer for self-publishers. Professionally created covers range in price from $30 up. I am fortunate—with my background in graphics, I was able to create my own cover paying only $15 for stock art. I’m also fortunate to have made contacts over the years through my affiliation with RWA, and found an editor I could afford to line edit the book.

It wasn’t my intention to write a how-to blog, but to talk to other skeptics out there about how pleased I am with the process, and how easy I found it to be. Don’t misunderstand me, like I said creating a book for publication is time consuming work and the process before release is huge, but Amazon made it possible for me to put my book into a store that has hundreds of thousands of shoppers daily, and at miniscule cost, also into a gorgeous print version. They even spit out a print template to make sure my pages were aligned properly and fit into my cover binding. Isn’t it beautiful?

What Amazon has also done, with its brilliant Kindle, is de-funked the stigma of ebooks. I first learned about ebooks when they were in their infancy after joining RWA in 1998. At one of my first local chapter meetings, another author announced a sale to a brand new publishing house called Hard Shell Word Factory. At the time, I said “that’s not for me,” and held out for New York. I wanted to hold my book in my hand. For ten years I watched the industry grow and evolve, and the stigma that “ebooks aren’t real books” sloooooowly fade. I saw authors make names for themselves in epublishing, and start earning decent royalties. In 2008, a decade later, I chose Samhain Publishing to release my Golden Heart winner, The Midnight Effect because they gave me the best of both worlds; my book would be released in ebook and print (and because they didn’t reject me). Now, the Kindle has become a household name, applauded by the movement toward green.

Today, times are a changing. And it’s for me.

Once Upon a Midnight Sea is now available in Kindle and print formats at Amazon.com. And coming in 2012, Lord of Darkness will be released by Blush Historical Romance.

Eppie finalist!

2010-10-27T19:55:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of quick announcements, the first because I never officially announced my September contest winner: the recipient of my first print book giveaway is jaspert1969@... (Jas has already been notified and received her prize)

And, slightly bigger news, The Midnight Effect is a nominee for EPIC Authors’ eBook award for best romantic suspense! The winner will be announced in March.

Autographing for Literacy

2010-08-08T17:40:00.000-07:00

I'm home from Orlando, and happy to say I survived my first book signing. Luck was with me--I was separated by an aisle from a certain NYT author whose last name falls right next to mine, and who had a horde of fans clamoring around her table all night. I would have drowned in the throng if it weren't for that aisle.

Instead I sat next to an old friend I've known since we both lived in California's central valley. Caroline Fyffe and I met when we belonged to the Sacramento Valley Rose chapter of RWA. We were both Golden Heart finalists in 1999. Wow, that's really dating myself, isn't it? Caroline remarked on how special she'd found that year and I had to agree. There is something special about all your "firsts" with a big organization like RWA, and our first conference in Chicago was it for both of us. Caroline won her category that year. It was great sitting next to her at the signing.

Since 1990, RWA has donated more than $670,000 to literacy charities. This year 3,600 fans and 500 participating authors helped raise $55,000 for literacy.

Hello from Orlando

2010-07-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

I’m blogging to you from RWA 2010 from Orlando Florida. Most people don’t like the muggy heat here but I’m loving it! Call me crazy but I could totally live here. I guess when you live with earthquakes that could (and do) hit any time, hurricanes don’t seem so bad. At least there’s a little forewarning.

I don’t have long before my laptop battery dies so I’ll quickly summarize the first day. Actually yesterday was my first day and I sold 4 books at the literacy signing. Woohoo! That’s 4 more than I expected to. And if you were one of the 4 people who bought one, check out the contest page on my website because in the next couple of weeks because I’ll have a special door prize for you. But since I can’t download the pictures out of my camera until I return, I’ll start with posting this little picture Bella Andre sent me from her iPhone taken at lunch today. Nora Roberts’ keynote speech was engaging and inspiring, but I have to say I don’t want to be just like her when I grow up. I can’t imagine writing 175 books. How would I ever be able to keep all those characters straight? Though I have to say I love her In Death series.

After the luncheon I attended Nyree, Monica and Jamie’s presentation on Alpha Heroes and came away with a bunch of really eye-opening AHA thoughts. If you were considering buying the conference CDs, do so just for that one.

Next was So You Think You Can Pace which was another really great workshop, as pacing is my Achilles heel. Lets just say I have already decided to buy the conference CDs because of these two workshops even though I attended them.

That’s all for now and please excuse the typos because typing on a laptop is not my greatest strength. I’ll leave you with this photo of the lobby ceiling, which I’m told is actually concrete made to look like fabric.

First Book Fun!

2010-05-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

My author copies came tonight and I am so jazzed I'm flitting around the house like an idiot. I practically chased the UPS guy down the street. He drove up and down, torturing me, looking for the house. I'm here!! How can you miss that address plaque?

I had to take a picture. I know, I'm a geek. Aren't they beautiful? This has been such a thrill. The best part was when my husband picked it up and opened the front page and realized I'd given him a very special thank you in the dedication. I have him and so many others to thank for helping make this possible. Mostly I want to thank the readers who have read and enjoyed the book, and wrote to tell me so.

Thank you!

Top Pick!

2010-05-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

I'm in the June RT and I couldn't be happier with this first review. The Midnight Effect gets 4 1/2 stars and a Top Pick!

"Fryer pens a first-rate, grab-you-by-the-seat- of-your-pants story that will not let go until you devour the entire book. Featuring a great suspense plot, this novel also has first-class paranormal and romantic aspects thrown in. Understandably and deservedly, Fryer won the Golden Heart award from the Romance Writers of America for this novel. Her writing style is so visual you can almost see Annie’s awe at her newly discovered world and all it has to offer. We hope to see more from this talented author in the future."

How much stuff do you have?

2010-04-22T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have to admit, I love my stuff. I have five computers in my house. Yes, five. I just bought a new one because my old-new one got wonky with Adobe Photoshop, which I used professionally, and I absolutely had to have that program working properly. My new-old one was a 2 year 2 month old Dell dual-core whose high-end-upgraded-for-lots- of-money-thank-you-very-much conked out, causing said problem with PS. I have a gorgeous laptop with all the bells and whistles. I have a ten year old laptop I’ve been meaning to sell. And I have the old PC before my new-old PC that I stripped and now use to run the surveillance system in my house. Yes, I have a surveillance system in my house. It’s really cool, and as I said, I do love my gadgets.

But you could also say that I’m really concerned with the direction our society is going, and that’s why I love these public awareness videos put out by Annie Leonard, the author of “The Story of Stuff.” I’ve always believed that all of us need to be more aware of what we purchase as consumers. There’s an old saying that “corporate trust” is an oxymoron, so while we claim we don’t trust corporations, why do we still turn around and buy all the garbage they throw at us? Fake food in a box is my strongest peeve. Chemicals in cosmetics is a close second. For the record, I don’t use plastic water bottles. I have a glass bottle I refill from a reverse-osmosis filter system, and that water is delicious!!

http://www.storyofstuff.org/

Why does it always happen in the middle of the night?

2010-03-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

Beep. Beep. Beep.

11:49pm.

I was dreaming I was working a grocery store check-out at a terminal with a squeaky conveyor belt. Then the dream morphed into a chapter of Nora Roberts’ Sanctuary... But the point is that while the damn thing beeped every 30 seconds, it felt more like every five seconds as it rousted me half out of sleep. Beep I’m half awake. Drift off...Beep I’m half awake.

“Hon.” “Sweetie.” “Craig.” “CRAIG.”

Snoooooore. Snrt. “What?”

“The fire alarm is beeping,” I say in the weak, gravelly voice usually reserved for calling in sick to work. (I took half a pain pill for a sore back before going to bed. No way am I dragging in the big ladder from the garage and climbing it at midnight while half zonked out of my mind.)

“Mmmmmmm.”

“What are my options. (Implying: I'll take care of it sweetie) Should I lock the cats out?”

We have two cats who sleep on the bed with us. And like all felines, they could sit on your lap for hours, perfectly content, but the minute the door to the room closes they immediately want out. It’s an inherent cat thing.

His response is the half-laugh that says you’re kidding me, right? “That’s your solution?”

Covers fly back. Feet stomp the length of our (small) house. Step ladder stored beside the refrigerator is dragged from its nook with much rattling. More rattling as it’s unfolded and plunked down in the hallway under the misbehaving fire alarm. Beep turns to BEEEEEEEEEP as the cap is removed, then blessed silence as a fresh battery is snapped in place.

I get up to pee, see him standing there on the ladder, and some guilt eases because after all, I wouldn’t have been able to reach it from the step ladder.

The silence was as satisfying as that strange comfort you get after having to pee really bad and finally finding a nice clean bathroom.

“Thank you, honey.”

Silence. I smile in the dark. My hero.

And for hours I’m wide awake.

Florists in China expect wilting Valentines Day business

2010-02-08T15:59:00.000-08:00

How do I know this, you’re probably asking yourself (and why should I care?) In passing on this little tidbit I’m revealing the wide results one finds with Google Alerts.

All authors need to use Google Alerts. Not only do they alert us immediately to the occurrence of our books uploaded to various pirate sites so we can deal with them right away, they alert us to comments, reviews, and discussions about our titles. I have discovered several reviews of my book that I wasn’t notified of by the review site.

What did I learn today? Courtesy of Taiwan News, there is a phenomon called… you guessed it, “The Midnight Effect” which boosts sales in Valentines Day gifts.

With Valentine’s Day falling on the same day as the Lunar New Year’s Day in 2010, flower shop owners expect the convergence of the two holidays to negatively impact sales during one of their most lucrative periods of the year.

Florists have anticipated a drop in business of up to 50 percent over levels in past years for the occasion as it happens to coincide this year with the most important holiday on the calendar for Taiwan people who usually spend the holiday with family: Chinese New Year.

Since 1901, Valentine’s Day has only fallen during the Chinese New Year holidays a total of 15 times. In that period, it has occurred on the same day as Chinese New Year’s Eve just twice, and the same day as Chinese New Year’s Day three times, with the last time being back in 1953.

However there are usually two phenomena that appear to boost sales when Valentine’s Day occurs during a non-holiday period.

The first is the “office effect,” in which a large number of working women receive flowers at their place of employment during business hours sent by their lovers. Many other women, he continued, send text messages to their boyfriends or husbands informing them that “one of their co-workers has received flowers.” This “hint” spurs many of these men who would otherwise not make such a gesture to do the same by immediately calling the local flower shops, Chen said.

The second phenomenon is called “the midnight effect.” According to Chen, many men after spending the day with their lovers “suddenly remember that they should send flowers” to their partners and quickly head to the nearest florist to place an order. This is the reason why so many flower shops stay open late on Valentine’s Day.

There you have it. You learned something new today.

My Sometimes Muse

2009-12-22T20:41:00.000-08:00

Just for fun, some pictures of my cat Sherkahn, who looks suspiciously like the cat belonging to my chaptermate Rachel Herron. The butt story is priceless.

Of course, there was some mention of male pattern baldness, and my Sherkahn is a female. But she is nearly blind, and this first photo was taken when her pupils were giving her a particularly bad day. They don't react to sunlight as they should, and she ends up walking into things. She looks like a demon cat in most of her pictures. Poor thing. It's so sad to find her with a big bump on her nose or forehead.

Of course, even though she's a total brat, I think she's gorgeous. Here are a couple of photos where she's posing with all her beautyesness.

Our pets. Aren't they wonderful? We named her Sherkahn because when she was a kitten she would hiss so fiercely all four feet would come off the floor. In the same token, she was the first to become socialized (my pets are feral rescues) and she adores attention. But on her terms. Always on her terms.

It's December Again

2009-12-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

Those of you who know me know that I hate Christmas. Now wait, before you start throwing rotten tomatoes at me and calling me Scrooge, let me clarify that: I hate the ideals of Capitalist Christmas. Also I should explain that I don’t have small children living in my home, and if I did, I would have no problems with buying toys and sneaking them under the tree as if Santa had done it, as my parents did for me.

I did not have horrible Christmases as a child. No tragedies occurred on the day. No scrooges in my life to pass the bad attitude down.

Nope, this is all me. I can’t stand the way commercials start cramming the influence to buy buy buy down our throats as early as November. I hate the way corporations try to make you believe the more you spend the better your Christmas will be.

Over the years I’ve tried to come up with ideas to tone down the Christmas Capitalism. Last year I suggested a gift card exchange of equal amounts, agreed on before hand. That worked...sort of... but still resulted in the spending of money on “stuff.”

It’s nothing but adults in my family now, most of them scattered far across our continent. It’s my personal opinion if you are celebrating with a friend or relative in person it’s worthwhile to exchange gifts at the event. After all, isn’t it fun handing someone a brightly decorated package with a treasure inside and watching their eyes light up? Hearing their exclamations of joy and wonder when they discover what’s inside? But I also believe that in the case of friends and relatives living far away, shipping a package for the sake of Christmas is ridiculous and unnecessary.

So this year it’s going to be a little different. Yes, the charities are advertising like mad this year too, because like everyone else, they’re hurting in our bad economy. Thanks to our governor, who can’t be bothered to park his car legally, monies for animal shelters have been cut. I saw an ASPCA commercial yesterday that brought tears to my eyes.

This year, I’m telling friends and relatives not to buy me gifts. If you must spend, donate to a charity in my name. All my gifts are going to be donations made in the true spirit of giving.

If you feel like helping animals in need this year, clicking this image will take you to the ASPCA's website.

A Writer's Research

2009-11-12T10:44:00.000-08:00

A writer’s research takes us down all kinds of interesting avenues. All I can say is I hope the FBI isn’t watching my internet searches too closely :) When I found this article about the APOPO landmine detection project, I was completely amazed.

In African countries like Mozambique, decades of violence have left forty million unexploded landmines. The problem is so critical that on average at least one person a week is maimed or killed by landmines.

Bart Weetjens, a lifelong rat and gerbil breeder from Belgium, decided to train rats to detect land mines when he learned about the dog detection program. He uses the giant pouched rats, which are three times bigger than average rats, live three times as long, and exist all over Africa (and are just about the cutest things I’ve ever seen). This program is so remarkable it caught the attention of Jane Goodall, who took time out from her global conservation project to learn more.

Local people become trainers much like an American police officer would with his K9 partner. They build a bond with their rat and begin training it at four weeks old. The rat is first trained to associate a sound with the scent of TNT. If they correctly identify TNT, they get a treat. In the first stage of the training, they learn to associate the sound of the click with a food reward. Once they learn the click sound, trainers use it to shape the behavior of the animal. Weighing only 3 pounds, the rat is in no danger of detonating the land mines. To gauge consistency in results, three rats are used to search each area. A rat can sweep an area the size of a racquet ball court in 30 minutes. Rats are more efficient than electronic detection equipment, which picks up any metal buried in the earth and are undependable in warm, moist locales. The use of rats costs 60-70 percent less than high-tech detection devices and the experts required to operate them.

This video is courtesy of Animal Planet.

Debut Debut

2009-11-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

Hello! And welcome to my new blog.

I said I wouldn't do it, so I'm eating those words now. Anyone have any salt?

If you're looking for current revelations about me, you've come to the right place. Not that I couldn't update my website with the information, after all I do my own website design and maintenance. So I guess you could say I understand a lot of what book cover artists go through. There isn't a lot to choose from as far as quality stock art, and it can take hours just sifting through stock art sites for the perfect images. Then comes the design process. It can be extremely time consuming, and I also know firsthand that as authors, we want our characters and cover scenes to look just right. Tough job for even the best graphic artists!

I've started a collection of covers that contain the same stock art couple used on my cover. If you spot it, send me a link! I've counted five so far, but I'm sure more will pop up.

In the mean time, I'll be posting all kinds of junk here, because that's what a blog is, isn't it? Junky good fun. So sit back and enjoy yourself!