I’ve decided that I need to start reading more books outside of romance. This has been building in me for a while. I still love my favorite authors and occasionally grab new authors, but I think I’m ready for more.
I’m not into biographies or historical text. I’m looking for fiction. That said, I don’t really want women’s fiction, fantasy (unless it’s urban) or chicklit. (I know, I know, I’m picky and being incredibly biased.) I’m looking for a lot of action/adventure in the story. It can be scary (as long as I can sleep with the lights off at night) or funny. I don’t really care. Just don’t kill off the protag in the end. 
I want a good story.
This is where you all come in. *g* Can anyone recommend a good book that fits the above criteria? I’m desperate.
Archive for January, 2006
The title of this entry is from an old Kings X song that talks about hearing music in your head. I would’ve never understood what those lyrics meant, if I hadn’t experienced that same thing.
I’m not talking about hearing a song from the radio run through your head all day. I am talking about hearing actual music and lyrics that you compose. This used to happen to me all the time when I wrote songs. The music eventually faded, probably with my waning interest in singing and songwriting.
For the longest time its disappearance made me sad, then I realized that I HEAR dialogue in much the same way that I used to hear music. It repeats over and over in my head until I expand it and write it down.
People have asked me where I get my ideas. I never know how to answer that question without sounding like a loon, so I say from the ether. It’s a much better answer than ‘the voices in my head’. *ggg*
This got me thinking about various story ideas that I’ve come up with. Atlantean’s Quest came about because of my obsession with the actor, Miles O’Keefe who played Tarzan (scroll down to the bottom of the page on the link to see him) in Bo Derek’s classic *g* Tarzan The Ape Man. (Yes, I watch quality movies.) Anyhoo, I watched that a few times and remember thinking, what if you were in a jungle and someone like that came out of the trees and swept you up? (Okay, it was wishful thinking on my part.;) Combine that with the myths that surround Atlantis and the Atlantean’s Quest series was born.
Tears of Amun (my Egyptian time-travel) came after I watched the Mummy (newer version) for the fifth time. I kept wondering what would’ve happened if the Mummy had found love instead of losing it.
Gothic Passions was my attempt at writing a historical. I’d started out reading them in my early teens and tried to write my first one when I was 15/16 years old. (My ode to pirates. *ggg*) Anyway, since they’d (historicals) been my first encounter with romances and my first love of the genre, penning one seemed an obvious choice. I did it simply to see if I could. Why a vampire showed up in the book is beyond me, since that hadn’t been my intention at all. Some books are just like it.
Revenge of the Sky Goddess came about as a form of therapy. *g* The Phantom Warriors were created after I obsessed about a particular dinosaur in the Lost World book. It could become virtually invisible like a chameleon. I thought, what if there was a race of beings like that, except they were capable of not only becoming invisible, but walking through solid objects? (Hence the Phantom aspect.) They’d be virtually impossible to defeat in a fight. On top of that, I made them some of them shape-shifters as a nod to the dinosaur who triggered the idea. 
I’ve shown you mine, now it’s your turn to show me yours. Where have some of your wildest story ideas come from?
Dh and I went to Pier 1 last night to pick up a coffee table and side table. They were out of the side tables, except for the floor model (which we bought, since it wasn’t scratched). We were told that they had the coffee table in the back boxed up. So we waited for the girl to bring it out to us. I didn’t think to look at the box because I ASSUMED (and you know what that means) that she’d READ the box to make sure she grabbed the correct product. Silly me. We got home to find that what she’d grabbed was a console table. Teensy weensy difference…like twelve inches taller. We were just as guilty of not reading as she was.
This brings me to the question of this entry. Why doesn’t anyone read? I first became aware of this phenomena when I worked for the airline. No one ever read the gate signs or the signs on the overhead bins or their tickets, etc. Now I’m not saying tickets are easy to read. They vary greatly from airline to airline. You may have to search a moment to find the info you’re looking for, but it’s there.
The funny thing about this whole discussion is that I find it amusing that I’m actually shocked that paperback sales are dropping. Why am I shocked, when no one will read a sign or the outside of a box?
Sylvia mentioned that today is critique partner appreciation day. I must say that I’m beyond grateful to have Sylvia Day and Julia Templeton around to help me through this mire of publishing. I couldn’t do it without you ladies. Thank you for your attention to detail and most of all for your friendship!
Our water has been off all day. Something about a broken pipe. It’s now back on, so I’m off to have the shower I’ve been waiting for…since I left the gym at 11:30 this morning and to remove the stones from my toilet tank. Don’t ask. And how was your day? *ggg*
I thought for sure the book would be edited and out the door by now. BUT (Isn’t it always a big but?) dh found problems in my last three chapters (two and a half to be exact). So, I spent the day rewriting those chapters and cutting a sh*tload from the story. I have one more scene to write and then I’m going to throw it all together and see if it works. With any luck, I’ll manage to get the book in the mail by Friday. Pray for me. Crawling back to the edits.
Okay, we’ve discussed paperbacks and movies. (Two of my all-time favorite subjects. *g*) Now I’d like to talk about ebooks. I’ve been reading a ton of ebooks lately. Mainly because I can read them in bed, which seems to be the only time I get a chance to read anymore.
I’ve enjoyed quite a few, although I’m not purchasing as many as I used to since the prices have increased. I know this is a touchy subject. I definitely have mixed emotions about ebook prices. On one side, the increase adds to my income. Yah! On the other, I think it keeps readers from buying more books. Boo!
So I’m curious about a couple of things. Has the price increase of ebooks affected your buying habits? The second is have you read any ebooks this year that you really enjoyed? (Always on the lookout for a good book.:) I’m currently reading Anya Bast’s The Embraced: Blood of the Damned and loving it.
I must say, now that 2006 has arrived, I’m counting down the days until Pirates of the Caribbean 2 is released in July. I’m also looking forward to Underworld 2 next week. (No, that’s not the official title.) The Da Vinci Code should probably be interesting. V for Vendetta looks pretty cool. Ice Age 2 will be funny. The Inside Man has an incredible cast. I’m not sure about the movie yet. I’ve only seen previews.
Of course, there are the old standards like Mission Impossible 3 and X-men 3. I go to these to see things blow up. *ggg* (Hugh Jackman as Wolverine doesn’t hurt.;) Superman and Miami Vice may be interesting. There’s a paranormal movie that’s coming out this year called The Visiting that might be okay. I believe Nicole Kidman is in it, but I’m not positive.
Are you looking forward to any particular movie? Have you seen a movie over the last few months that you thought was cool? Let me know. I LOVE movies.
I know I live in a cave, but I just heard that the price of stamps are going up again. Blink. I don’t know if you all have shipped anything lately, but it costs a fortune and that’s without the postal increase. Gulp.
The other day I was in Borders and picked up the latest Secrets anthology (Volume 14). (Angela Knight’s name was on it. Nuff said.) I haven’t started reading it yet (because I want to use it as a treat for after I complete my work), but it ‘looks’ really good.
There are so many good books coming out over the next two months. March is a gold mine for releases, Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas, Love Eternal by J.R. Ward, Sexy Beast by Vivi Anna, et al, Deep, Dark, Dangerous by Jaid Black, Dark Demon by Christine Feehan, and What Price for Love? by Stephanie Laurens. As you can see, the list goes on and on. I’m polishing up the old credit card in preparation.
What’s coming up that you’re looking forward to?
I don’t know about you all, but I like to comparison shop. Well, I say that, but after about four to six quotes on prices I get overwhelmed and tend to freak out. *g*
Today, I had to do some comparison shopping after I went to the bank, used bookstore, UPS store, post office, grocery store, and JoAnns crafts. I was a busy camper. When I got home, I had an email from my agent waiting and I had to phone several furniture cleaners. Hence, the need for comparison shopping.
What did I learn? That pretty much all the places that say they’ll clean your furniture are EXPENSIVE. If they sound cheap, there’s always a hidden cost like travel or stain removal, etc. I finally gave up and just picked one. I didn’t pick the cheapest one, although that was tempting and I didn’t pick the most expensive one. (That wasn’t tempting monetarily.) I have just one thing to say after booking the inbetween one’s services, for that price–they’d BETTER be good.
Atlantean’s Quest Bk. Four: Return has been released. Wahoo!!! Yippee!!! Zowee!!! Buy now!!! This is my first Ellora’s Cave book release in two years. Buy. My other books came out in 2003 for them. :-O I’m happy to say this book won’t be my last release for the year. I have no idea how all those subliminal messages ended up in this blog entry. *ggg*
